Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy

Plastics are very versatile: Their low weight makes them irreplaceable for resource-efficient products. The raw material base is slowly opening up to biogenic sources. Plastic production is growing steadily. Almost 350 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide.

And yet, plastic is barely appreciated by the population and is considered a disposable item. Too many plastics end up in incineration or in the ground and oceans at the end of their life. Governments and authorities around the globe are initiating government measures to combat plastics in the environment. The EU published its Plastics Strategy with far-reaching measures at the beginning of 2018. Environmental associations and stakeholders are adding plastics to the list of major environmental polluters. It is time to take action. Plastic is too valuable a material to be given a bad name. The Solution: The plastics economy must become circular.

Circular plastics economy

The basic idea behind the circular plastics economy is simple:

• minimize the extraction of fossil resources and end-of-life losses
  
• and, at the same time, enable the real recycling of plastic.

The transition from today’s globally still largely linear system to a circular system necessitates systemic, technical, and social innovations and value creation networks that are adapted to them. This transformation is complex. It requires a plastics revolution that can only be achieved by adopting a multistakeholder approach – along and at the interfaces of the value chain.

Circular Plastics Economy research cluster for a sustainable plastics revolution

The Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence sets the course for the transition from a linear to a circular plastics economy. The Fraunhofer Institutes UMSICHT (management), IAP, ICT, IML, and LBF launched the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence “Circular Plastics Economy“ in November 2018.

They develop system capabilities for the circular plastics economy. The research cluster will run for five years and will be consolidated as a virtual institute.

Virtual institute for the circular plastics economy

What is new is that science is intertwined with business development in the cluster right from the start in order to provide market-relevant prototypes. Fraunhofer UMSICHT invites stakeholders from industry and science to help shape this virtual institute for a circular plastics economy and to collaborate on solutions within the research cluster.

Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence

Fraunhofer Clusters of Excellence combine the competencies of institutes to investigate relevant topics with scientific excellence. The aim is to establish virtual institutes with international visibility.

Fraunhofer Institutes involved

• Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, Potsdam
  Prof. Dr. Alexander Böker
  www.iap.fraunhofer.de/en/
• Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Pfinztal
  Prof. Dr. Frank Henning
  www.ict.fraunhofer.de/en
  
• Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, Dortmund
  Prof. Dr. Uwe Clausen
  www.iml.fraunhofer.de/en   
  
• Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, Darmstadt
  Prof. Dr. Tobias Melz
  www.lbf.fraunhofer.de/en
• Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Oberhausen
  Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manfred Renner (Management of the Cluster)
  www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/en
• Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Freising
  Prof. Dr. Andrea Büttner
  www.ivv.fraunhofer.de