Waste Management and Recycling

The global mountains of waste contain valuable primary raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. Their recovery involves an entire industry. Collecting, sorting and recycling recyclables plays a transformational role. Waste management is becoming the “missing link” for a new raw materials industry – a strong driver for the circular economy and the development of new material flows.


The shredding and separation of various components, especially in the case of composite materials, can require considerable amounts of energy. The largest amounts of waste arise in the construction industry: Here it is important to drill the thickest board and to reuse vast amounts of concrete, stone and steel after demolition for clever, economical reuse. Another elephant in the room is plastic: Even though efforts towards closed plastic recycling are constantly increasing, a large part of the plastic waste is still either burned as processed oil, which is harmful to the climate, or it ends up in non-transparent ways in the environment, rivers and seas. Examples of other challenges facing the industry include the recovery of rare earths in unused smartphones or the crushing and recycling of reinforced concrete.