Michael Brunn

Revomet Bitterfeld GmbH operates one of Europe's most advanced facilities for recycling of battery scrap from the battery industry in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. The partnership's goal is to recover valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium in the highest purity and return them to the production cycle.

This contains significant quantities of valuable metals such as aluminium, copper, brass, and stainless steel. To keep these valuable resources in circulation, MDSU has invested in a state-of-the-art facility with X-ray technology and is now setting new standards.

"We are pleased to announce the sale of our German and Austrian operations," said Tom Slabe, President and CEO of Ecobat. "Upon completion, this transaction - along with the previously announced divestitures of France, Italy, and Battery Distribution - will enable Ecobat to concentrate its efforts on core recycling operations, as well as our global lithium-ion battery business. Ecobat will continue to pursue additional opportunities to maximize value for shareholders beyond these transactions."

At the same time, the EU's GDP increased by 1.2% in the first quarter of 2025, compared with the same quarter of 2024.

Actually, the economy knows only one direction: up. Sustained growth is considered the basis for prosperity. It is also no secret that this is not always good for the environment and also for many people. The concept of sufficiency could help solve some of the current problems. In its report "Crisis-proof, socially and environmentally friendly - impulses for the development of a sufficiency strategy for Germany", the junior research group EnSu makes suggestions on what this could look like in practice.

With the "Action Plan for the European Chemical Industry", the European Commission is now taking on another sector. The aim of the plan is to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of the chemical industry in the EU.

With steel demand exceeding seven million tonnes per year, the automotive industry is one of the most resource-intensive sectors in the EU. And this demand continues to rise. The environmental impact of steel production could be reduced through the circular use of steel. However, this is only the case if the increased use of recycled steel in vehicle manufacturing does not result in the material being diverted from other sectors or regions. The increased use of recycled steel in automotive production must therefore be accompanied by efforts to improve its overall availability and quality. The International Council on Clean Transportation aims to show how this could be achieved in its report 'Closing the loop: improving automotive steel recycling for a circular economy'.

Steel is considered the most recycled material in the world. However, there is little information about how circular the steel industry actually is. In the study "Global stagnation and regional variations in steel recycling", scientists from Japan, the Netherlands, Austria and Australia have examined the actual state of the industry. The article was published in "Resources, Conservation & Recycling".

How can a circular economy be implemented in the UK by 2040? ESA has done some thinking about this topic.

Consumers play an important role in implementing a circular economy model, but are still not sufficiently taken into account when putting transformation measures in place. The OECD Digital Economy Paper "Leveraging digital business models, tools and technologies for reliable environmental information and consumer engagement in the circular economy" shows how this can be changed with the help of digital technologies