Tag Archives: Recycling

Researchers are killing two birds with one stone: water scarcity and plastic waste.

By | October 16th 2026
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The world is suffocating in plastic waste. Credits: Thirdman, pexels

Discarded plastic packaging, old CDs, and even LEGO bricks can be transformed into materials that absorb significant amounts of humidity. Materials chemists Anastasiia Naryshkina, Paul Schweng, and Robert Woodward from the University of Vienna have converted various types of plastic waste into water-attracting polymer networks. These absorb water even in dry climates and release it again when moderately warmed, for example, by sunlight… Read more »

Altkleider zwischen Boom und Ballast

By | September 29, 2026
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Vielerorts quellen die Altkleidercontainer über. Credits: NEOSIAM, pixabay

Die Nachfrage nach Secondhand wächst, und doch stehen viele Läden im Bergischen Städtedreieck unter Druck. Eine neue Ausgabe von „Forschung aktuell“ des Instituts Arbeit und Technik untersucht, wie eine regionale Kreislaufwirtschaft für Alttextilien gestärkt werden kann. Grundlage sind unter anderem vier Roundtables mit fünfzehn Secondhand-Geschäften aus der Region im EFRE-Projekt FAB.Region Bergisches Städtedreieck. Gemeinsam mit Forschenden diskutierten die… Continue reading

GOLEHM Alliance receives further funding for sustainable earth construction

By | August 25, 2025
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Credits: N. Henkel, GOLEHM

The WIR! GOLEHM alliance, which has been committed to revitalizing massive earth construction in the Central German arid region and promoting a sustainable circular economy in the construction sector since 2020, will continue to receive funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space until the end of 2028. With a total volume of €9,82 million, the "WIR! – Change through Innovation in the Region" program supports over two dozen projects… Continue reading

No comment: Pugnalom gives facts about the plastic planet Earth

By | August 18, 2025
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Credits: Iqro Rinaldi, unsplash

The UN negotiations in August 2025 may have raised awareness of the global plastic problem, at least temporarily, but humanity is still far from a global solution. Without a radical change of course, the amount and toxicity of plastic in the environment, as well as in humans and animals, will continue to increase exponentially. We have compiled some figures and facts that… Read more »

Eliminating toxic solvents makes battery production more environmentally friendly

By | August 18, 2025
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Credits: John Cameron, unsplash

Researchers at the MEET Battery Research Center and the Institute of Industrial Chemistry at the University of Münster have developed an innovative method that makes battery cell production more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. The focus is on dry processing of electrodes, which eliminates the need for expensive and sometimes toxic organic solvents. This is made possible by using the high-temperature plastic polytetrafluoroethylene as a binder. To achieve circularity… Continue reading

Saarland University: Master's program for environmentally friendly products available from autumn

By | August 13, 2025
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Credits: Oliver Dietze, Saarland University

The Master's program "Sustainable Materials and Engineering" prepares students for the development of environmentally friendly products such as compostable packaging, sustainable building materials, and recyclable lightweight materials for vehicles. This research-oriented and practice-based program combines chemistry, materials science, and engineering to utilize resources efficiently and improve the environmental compatibility of products. Conventional packaging, building materials, and vehicles are often difficult to recycle and energy-intensive to produce… Read more »

Environmental organizations criticize inadequate national nuclear waste disposal program

By | August 1, 2025
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Symbolic image. Credits: Pugnalom

The organizations .ausgestrahlt, the Schacht Konrad Working Group, and the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) have submitted over 4.000 statements to Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. They criticize serious deficiencies in the National Waste Management Program (NaPro), through which the German government informs the EU about the handling of German nuclear waste. The program, they say, neglects key… Continue reading

Research team succeeds in extracting valuable epoxides from pollutants

By | July 9, 2025
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Melody Haarmann (left) and Max Scholz cleaning the products. Credits: Yannik Kubsch

New biocatalysts can produce useful epoxides from harmful styrene, and do so so selectively that only the desired compounds are formed and not their undesirable counterparts. This result was achieved by a group of doctoral students from the MiCon research training group – short for "Microbial Substrate Conversion" – at Ruhr University Bochum with the support of a research group from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. In the field of pharmacy and... Continue reading

Real circular economy: Startup Revoltech presents vegan leather alternative made from hemp

By | May 9
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Credits: Revoltech GmbH

Leather or synthetic leather is indispensable for many products such as clothing, shoes, accessories, and even car interiors. The Darmstadt-based startup Revoltech GmbH has developed a new leather alternative. The advantage: no animal products, problematic chemicals, or fossil raw materials – a real opportunity for a more environmentally and climate-friendly industry. The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) has supported the further development… Read more »

Electrolysis: Scientists succeed in recycling rare earths and other metals.

By | May 8
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Credits: Garry Lotulung, STAR

Hydrogen plays a central role in the energy transition. The gas is primarily produced using electrolyzers. This process requires critical raw materials, such as platinum group metals, rare earth elements, and nickel as catalysts. Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology have now been able to recover these functional materials using innovative flotation processes and liquid-liquid particle extraction, thus reintegrating them into… Read more »