r+Impuls Workshops: „Legal requirements for the operation of resource-efficient plants" and "Business models for the marketing of resource-efficient processes and products"

As in 2018 and 2020, the accompanying project of the BMBF funding measure r+Impuls again organized two workshops this year on topics relevant to the implementation of resource efficiency-enhancing technologies.

In the first workshop, the legal aspects of operating recycling and other facilities that can contribute to increasing resource efficiency were discussed in greater depth. Many of the projects funded by the r+Impuls funding initiative, for example, have the objective of carrying out new or further developed processes in a decentralized manner at the point of origin of the used material. This results in the challenge of having the operation of the corresponding plants approved for the respective location. Important aspects arise from the question of the extent to which the new process is integrated into existing plants and who operates the plant. The possible waste characteristics of the treated materials also play an important role. Mr. Franz from the Arnsberg Regional Council provided technical support for this part of the workshop.

Increasing the resource efficiency of production processes or products can be achieved in various ways: by using materials more sparingly (lightweight construction), by replacing (substituting) more resource-intensive materials with less costly ones, or by increasing recycling. For such technical solutions to be successfully implemented, however, it is often necessary to make further adjustments to existing business models. Often, economic opportunities are also opened up by completely new business models. This may not only involve the exchange of individual business partners, but the business relationships as a whole become more complex because more parties have to be taken into account and more information exchanged. And it must be ensured that values are created and maintained on a sustainable basis. This was the topic of the second workshop. Professor Fröhling, Professor of Circular Economy at the Technical University of Munich, provided technical support for this part of the workshop.