Circular economy made in NRW

State Environment Minister Christina Schulze Föcking visits Lobbe recyclables processing plant in Iserlohn

Iserlohn. With more than 90,000 employees in the resource sector, North Rhine-Westphalia plays an important role in the further development of the circular economy. Of these, more than 35,000 are employed in South Westphalia. A region that has long been able to point to special competencies in waste management. The Lobbe Group's recyclables processing plant (WAA) in Iserlohn is considered the most recent technical innovation. The company has invested 14 million euros in state-of-the-art sorting technology and energy efficiency. Back in 2015, the plant received an award as a qualified project as part of the KlimaExpo.NRW state initiative. State Environment Minister Christina Schulze Föcking personally visited the site to see for herself, especially in view of the requirements of the Packaging Act that will apply from 2019.

The facility sorts 95,000 tonnes of light packaging from the collection of the dual systems (yellow sack, yellow bin and recycling bin) into a dozen sorting fractions every year. State-of-the-art technology ensures that four types of plastic, for example, are sorted by type. This sorting purity is the prerequisite for plastics to be returned to the production cycle as recyclates. During her visit, State Environment Minister Christina Schulze Föcking discussed the current situation regarding secondary raw materials with Lobbe Managing Director Michael Wieczorek.

Michael Wieczorek sees the increase in recycling rates stipulated in the new Packaging Act as a positive challenge for all involved: "Our sorting plant is already geared to the higher requirements of the Packaging Act and already meets the required quota of 50 per cent. What still needs to be worked on urgently, however, is the high rate of misthrow in the yellow bins, sacks and recycling bins, which in individual cases is up to 50 per cent. The fact that the obligation to provide information about the purpose of separate packaging collection has now been brought back into focus by the new law is therefore long overdue." He called for significantly more public relations work on the part of the system operators and municipal waste advisory services.

Using the sorting of plastic packaging as an example, he explained to the minister a problem that even the most efficient plant cannot solve. "More and more products are being put on the market in so-called multilayer packaging or composites. These are practically no longer separable and are thus lost for recycling despite innovative sorting technology. Here, packaging manufacturers have a duty to make their products recyclable and resource-saving. Therefore, it is a right step that in the future ecological criteria such as recyclability in particular will be taken more into account in the licence fees of the dual systems. This is hopefully an incentive for more eco-design in the packaging industry."

There is a lot going on in the field of circular economy and this is positive from the point of view of the predominantly private companies in this sector. The Iserlohn recycling plant is without question a lighthouse project. But it is also clear that innovative sorting technology alone cannot solve the problems of global sales markets for secondary raw materials. Rather, the competitiveness of secondary raw materials also needs to be strengthened through the necessary framework conditions in the individual countries. A legal obligation to use at least part of the recycled material in production could therefore be an adjustment screw. The fact that all these aspects are currently being discussed is good - both for the environment and for the economy.

With regard to the public discussion about the Chinese import ban on plastic waste, Schulze Föcking said: "The Chinese import ban on plastic waste is a signal and our chance to achieve a rethink among industry, trade, politics and consumers in favour of improving the market for recycled products". She emphasised that thanks to a very good infrastructure, the waste management industry in North Rhine-Westphalia is able to process recyclables to a high standard.

The Minister was impressed during her visit to Iserlohn: "As Minister of the Environment, it was important for me to get a personal impression. With the North Rhine-Westphalia Environmental Economy Report 2017, we have already shown the importance NRW has in this area. We need to build on this. This also includes the fact that we would like to see more modern sorting plants for plastics from the LVP collection in NRW in order to strengthen the recycling possibilities regionally. "Because the number of sites for such new facilities cannot be increased at will, we must also focus more on brownfield sites that can be reactivated," said the Minister and praised the commitment of the LOBBE company in the North Rhine-Westphalian Association for Land Recycling and Remediation of Contaminated Sites (AAV).

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