And once again, the EU wants to speed things up. This time, the "Industrial Accelerator Act" is to be about selected industrial sectors. The main focus is on public procurement and approval procedures.

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".

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.

The transition to a circular textile economy requires new forms of collaboration and, above all, reliable data along complex global value chains. Digital product passports are considered a central political instrument to improve transparency, traceability and recyclability of textiles. Based on empirical insights from European textile recycling, the strategy paper "Digital product passports: The golden thread through textile recycling?" by Pesco-Up ex-amines the potential that digital product and material passports can actually unleash, where their limits lie and what prerequisites must be met for them to become an effective enabler of data-based circularity.

It is widely accepted that digitization offers enormous potential in all areas of society. However, it is largely unclear what exactly this can look like. This also applies to sustainability. The Wuppertal Institute has examined the possibilities in the impulse paper "Digital Germany: Political, Economic and Social Impulses for Sustainable Digitization in Germany on Eight Levels".

The circular economy pursues the goal of keeping resources in circulation for as long as possi-ble and avoiding waste. With advancing digitalization, new opportunities are emerging to im-plement these principles. The report "Opportunities and Challenges in Implementing Circular Economy within Digital Platforms" by academics from Colombia, Indonesia and Singapore ex-amines the opportunities and challenges arising from the implementation of circular economy principles in digital platforms. The aim is to demonstrate the potential of digital technologies for resource efficiency and sustainable business models and at the same time to identify the obsta-cles that make broader implementation difficult. The report was published in "International Transactions on Education Technology".

Industry is considered a key player in the circular economy. It consumes significant amounts of energy and raw materials, generates large waste streams and at the same time has enormous potential to decouple value creation from resource consumption. Digital technologies play a central role in this. But despite these high expectations, the digital circular economy is making slow progress in many industrial companies. The study "Barriers to the Adoption of Digital Technologies for a Circular Economy: Insights from the Manufacturing Industry" by German scientists identifies a total of 36 concrete barriers that are slowing down companies on their way to a digitally supported circular economy. The study was published in the "Journal of Circu-lar Economy".

The Circularity Gap Report Brazil by Circle Economy shows that the Brazilian economy is strongly linear. Only 1.3 percent of the materials used are secondary raw materials, well below the global average of 6.9 percent. The report identifies great potential for transformation through regenerative agriculture, industrial symbioses and circular building material flows. The national circular economy strategy launched in 2024 provides a framework, but requires con-crete targets and cross-sectoral action.

The transformation to a climate-neutral industry is increasing the pressure on energy-intensive sectors such as steel, aluminum, cement and plastics. At the same time, the importance of the circular economy is increasing as it reduces emissions, reduces resource dependencies and strengthens economic resilience. The JRC study "Capturing the Potential of the Circular Economy Transition in Energy-Intensive Industries" shows what additional decarbonisation potential can be unlocked through circular measures and what political framework conditions are necessary for this.

The transformation of the European cement and concrete sector towards a circular economy offers significant potential for reducing emissions, reducing raw material and energy consumption and strengthening the EU's strategic autonomy. The report "Environmental and Socio-Economic Impacts of the Circular Economy Transition in the EU Cement and Concrete Sector" by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows how technical, normative and policy innovations must work together to successfully shape the circular transformation of this resource-intensive sector.

Global construction activity is one of the central drivers of global resource consumption and the associ-ated greenhouse gas emissions. While the international community has formulated the goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius with the Paris Climate Agreement, the CO₂ footprint of the construction sector has been rising dynamically for decades. The discrepancy between political ambi-tion and real development could become a crucial bottleneck in the coming decades. The study "Carbon footprint of the construction sector is projected to double by 2050 globally" by scientists from China, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria shows that the sector alone could be sufficient to consume the remaining CO₂ budget for the 1.5 degree target, even if other industries were fully decarbonised. The study was published in "Communications Earth & Environment".

Europe strengthens competitiveness through Made in EU circular materials, combining recycling systems, biomass and industrial innovation.

Vartan brings over four years of professional experience in diplomacy, governance, sustainable development and capacity building, alongside a strong international background gained across diverse institutional settings in Europe.

The Micromat Series IV will be shown with a multicut rotor for processing materials such as big bags and textiles.

SPALECK presents new screening technology at IFAT 2026, including ActiveFLOW feed unit, AutoCLEAN screening deck and cloud-based monitoring solutions.