Michael Brunn

Where does Germany stand in terms of the circular economy and what about the European goals? The Bertelsmann Foundation's study "Circular Economy Strategies of the EU and Germany in Comparison" examined the status quo in Germany. In addition, it was examined whether the German targets correspond to those of the EU.

Extended producer responsibility is considered the backbone of European recycling policy. But while collection and recycling rates are increasing, waste volumes continue to grow, while reuse and repair remain structurally underfunded. As part of the planned Circular Economy Act, Zero Waste Europe pro-poses a fundamental realignment of extended producer responsibility in the policy brief "Extended Pro-ducer Responsibility (EPR) for waste reduction".

Digital product passports are considered a key tool for promoting transparency, sustainability and circular economy in global value chains. Especially in the area of critical raw materials for batteries, they are intended to overcome regulatory fragmentation and provide reliable infor-mation on origin, processing and reuse. However, their cross-border implementation raises considerable legal questions. The white paper "Digital Product Passports and Critical Raw Ma-terials for Batteries: Legal Conflicts and Principles for Cross-Border Cooperation" by UNECE analyzes the central legal conflict areas in the implementation of digital product passports in global CRM battery value chains and develops principles for an internationally coordinated legal framework.

The circular economy is facing a technological turning point. Increasing material flow volumes, more demanding material composites and ambitious recycling targets require new solutions beyond classic process optimization. Artificial intelligence is evolving from a promise of innovation to an operational tool - in sorting systems, logistics systems and already in product design. The study "Leveraging artificial intelligence for economic development: Innovations in Circular Economy and waste reduction strategies" by scientists from Uzbekistan shows how data-based technologies are transforming the waste management and recycling industry, which economic and ecological effects are realistic and which strategic prerequisites must be met for successful implementation.

The transformation towards a resource-efficient and climate-neutral economy will be decided in the SME sector. Companies from the recycling, waste disposal, logistics and processing sectors in particular are at the interface of climate protection and industrial value creation.

Digital twins are considered a key technology of Industry 4.0. But their potential extends far beyond efficiency gains in production. As a data-based mapping of products and processes, they can create the transparency required for closed material cycles. In the article "Digital twins as enablers for circular economy development in the context of Industry 4.0", scientists from the University of Cologne show how digital twins and digital product passports can change recycling and what economic opportunities arise from this. The article was published in the "Journal of Applied Organizational Psychology".

Digital technologies are considered the key to the circular economy. But new data shows that digitization alone does not bring about sustainable transformation. Only when digital participation strengthens social security, political stability and intergenerational justice will the willingness to implement circular business models increase. The study "Digital Equity as a Catalyst for Circular Economy Transition" by researchers from Dubai shows why the circular economy needs more social infrastructure than technical innovation.

The construction industry needs to drastically reduce its environmental footprint through the transition to a circular economy. The central tool here is material passports, which provide digital information on the origin and recycling potential of building materials. Despite technical advances, however, research remains fragmented, as the link between data quality and practical circularity strategies such as reuse is often missing. This unsettles decision-makers and hinders nationwide deployment. The study "Evaluating material pass-ports for circularity in the construction industry" by Chinese academics closes this gap through a systematic analysis of literature and case studies. The aim is to develop a stand-ardised data structure that defines the necessary depth of information for a sustainable circular system.

The circular economy is considered a central concept for sustainably coping with the increasing consumption of resources and the growing amounts of waste. More than two billion tons of waste are already generated worldwide per year, and this number is projected to grow to 3.4 billion tons by 2050. This development is a burden on the environment, the economy and society in equal measure. Digital technologies open up new perspectives for this. They can modernize traditional waste management systems and effectively support central principles of the circular economy. At the same time, there are considerable challenges. Against this background, the study "Artificial Intelligence and IoT for Smart Waste Management: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions" by Indonesian scientists examines the role of AI and IoT in the circular economy, presents key applications and discusses obstacles as well as opportunities for a sus-tainable transformation. The study was published in the "Journal of Future Artificial Intelligence and Technologies".

Food waste is a global sustainability problem: around a third of the food produced is lost or dis-posed of every year. This leads to massive economic losses, inefficient use of resources such as water and energy, and high greenhouse gas emissions from the landfilling of organic waste. Since private households are responsible for around 60 percent of this waste worldwide, it is increasingly becoming the focus of the circular economy. In the hospitality sector, AI-supported systems have established themselves in recent years as an effective tool for measuring, analys-ing and reducing waste through targeted feedback. Against this background, the study "Explor-ing the potential of AI-driven food waste management strategies used in the hospitality industry for application in household settings", published by American scientists in "Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence", examines how such technologies can be adapted to households and what role they can play in the implementation of circular economy principles.