Michael Brunn

The amount of household waste is growing rapidly worldwide, while only a fraction is recycled. A decisive lever lies in the consistent separation of waste directly in households. Classic information campaigns often fall short. An alternative approach is offered by the nudge theory. With small changes in everyday life, people can be persuaded to separate waste more reliably, without coercion or financial incentives. The central question, however, is: What type of nudge works best - and in which living environment? The study "Which nudge works best? Testing Interventions for recyclable waste across residential types" by Thai researchers examines three measures - information messages, physical adaptations of collection points and feedback based on social comparisons - and compares their effect in single-family houses, terraced housing estates and apartment buildings. The aim is to derive practical recommendations on how waste separation can be efficiently promoted. The study was published in "Cleaner Waste Systems".

As with many other products, batteries at the end of life also raise the question of how to handle them further. So far, recycling has been considered the best solution. In the study "Recycling or Second Use? Supply Potentials and Climate Effects of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries" concluded that continued use is the better option, at least from an environmental point of view. But that doesn't mean that recycling doesn't play a role. The study was published in "Environmental Science & Technology".

With the Green Deal, the EU is aiming for a significant increase in the plastic recycling rate, but currently only about 27 percent of waste is actually recycled. In addition to mechanical recycling, the focus is on physical and chemical processes, the environmental and cost effects of which have so far been little researched. The study "Environmental and economic assessment of plastic waste recycling and energy recovery pathways in the EU" by Spanish and Italian scientists compares the most important recycling routes on the basis of European primary data and provides decision-making aids for politics and business. The study was published in "Resources, Conservation & Recycling".

Effective battery recycling processes are crucial to reduce Europe's dependence on raw material imports and improve battery sustainability. In the study "Economic and structural challenges of lithium-ion battery recycling in Europe: A stakeholder-based assessment", scientists from RWTH Aachen University examined the entire battery value chain. Their conclusion: current recycling practices are not economical. Instead, they propose a decentralized structure with regional pretreatment facilities and centralized chemical processing centers to shorten transportation distances, reduce costs, and improve scalability. The study was published in "Wastemanagement".

The OECD sees Southeast and East Asia (ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea) as a key region in the fight against plastic pollution. In its "Regional Plastics Outlook for Southeast and East Asia", the OECD shows ways in which waste generation could be reduced not only in the region.

About 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated every year. It is assumed that the amount will almost double by 2040 without countermeasures. The problem is well known and many people also believe that something needs to be done about it. But no one is doing anything. The polyproblem report "The gap in the head - plastic waste swims between values and reality" by the Wider Sense and Röchling Foundation tries to get behind the secret of the "intention-behavior gap".

The transformation to a circular economy is one of the major guiding principles of contemporary environmental and resource policy. Plastics play a key role in this debate: they are durable, versatile and ubiquitous - but also persistent, difficult to recycle and often mixed with hazardous chemicals. Recycling is considered a central solution for reducing plastic waste. But reality shows that global recycling rates are low, the quality of recycled materials is inadequate, and toxic ingredients hinder safe recycling. The article "Addressing the toxic chemicals problem in plastics recycling" explores the question of how a circular plastics economy can succeed without exacerbating health or environmental risks. It was published by researchers from Sweden, Germany, Nigeria and the Netherlands by Cambridge University Press.

Plastics consist of much more than just polymers. An international research team has now presented a global overview of more than 16,000 known plastic chemicals - including over 4,200 substances of concern. The study "Mapping the chemical complexity of plastics" was published in "Nature".

The recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) market has seen its least volatile year since pre-COVID times, with seasonal trends replacing the extreme spikes and troughs experienced in recent years.

This new recognition builds on the one already obtained for the packaging sector and will allow the centre to carry out technological validation work in line with RecyClass protocols. These validations confirm whether innovations developed by companies are compatible with the appropriate plastic recycling streams, ensuring that they represent sustainable solutions which support the transition of strategic industries towards more circular production models.