Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE

There is a growing demand for information on the environmental impact of the use of recycled plastic. However, publications and reliable data are rare. Now is the time for industry, academia and policy makers to share ideas and reach a consensus on how to model the environmental impact of recycled plastics. This is exactly where the Fraunhofer CCPE compact on 20 June 2024 on "Impacts of recycled plastics – A stakeholder approach to find consensus in LCA" comes in. Dr Anna Kerps and Tanja Fell give us an initial insight in this interview.

The VDMA and the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE are presenting the Chemical Recycling Spotlight Area at IFAT. Technologies for the recycling of plastics that can complement established mechanical processes will be presented, including solvent-based processes, solvolysis, pyrolysis and gasification.

Life cycle assessments are often used as a basis for decision-making when selecting environmentally friendly processes, input materials or services for plastics recycling. But what does a comparable and transparent ecological assessment that meets different requirements look like? Fraunhofer CCPE researchers have identified ten challenges and ten requirements that increase comparability and transparency in the ecological assessment of plastics recycling.

Elastomers can be found in many products and areas of application. Apart from used tires, which are collected and recycled separately, the recycling of elastomers is hardly possible in many cases, either economically or technically. New approaches and initial solutions for circular elastomers will be presented at our next Fraunhofer CCPE compact "Elastomers - Advanced technologies for recycling" on February 22, 2024.