About Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl has created 525 blog entries.

Presentation of the keynote address at the 38th VDI/ITAD Technical Conference on Thermal Waste Treatment now available (in German)

October 7, 2026

Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl delivered the keynote address on the topic “Potential and Risks of Plastic Recycling” at the 38th VDI/ITAD Technical Conference on Thermal Waste Treatment, held in Würzburg on September 23–24, 2026 (in German). His topic: Broken promises of recycling. His conclusion:

  • The promises of recycling and the narrative of the circular economy (for plastics) lull us all into a false sense of security. They act like a sedative in the political debate. “We’re on the right track …”
  • What we need is an honest “state of affairs” assessment of what the past 30-odd years of the circular economy have actually achieved. We need real, measurable output figures on efficiency rates and areas of application.
  • Because today’s material and mechanical recycling, with its low efficiency rates, is ecologically questionable and can pose risks to people and the environment. Solving these problems will be crucial if the solution is to be more effective and sustainable in the face of the exponential growth of plastic waste.
  • Pseudo-solutions (such as downcycling) do not mitigate the accumulation of plastic waste; they merely delay disposal, as products inevitably enter waste-to-energy (WtE) pathways after a single cycle.
  • The substitution rates set by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) and the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) are low (2030: 10–35%), but they represent a start toward increasing high-quality recycling. Implementation is viewed critically, time is running out until 2030, and a review clause is likely.
  • WtE currently makes a stable contribution to plastic disposal, but without capacity expansion, it will not be able to cope with the exponential growth of plastic waste either.
  • Therefore, it would be appropriate to consider an upper limit on plastic production, especially for “single-use” plastics.
  • And new fossil-based plastics continue to be heavily subsidized, which makes recycling uneconomical.
  • The integration of fossil-based plastics into the emissions trading system should therefore—contrary to the EU Commission’s proposal—take place not at the end of the chain at the WtE plants’ stacks, but at the beginning of the chain within the plastics industry.
  • This would also allow for better tracking of imports of “coal-based plastic,” particularly from China (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00807-2), whose carbon footprint is two to three times higher than that of plastics produced in the EU. This would also benefit the German chemical and plastics industries.
  • Outlook: WtE + CCU is (chemical) recycling! Can it handle the exponential growth of plastic waste? Experience and investment are lacking.
    But they offer prospects for a defossilized chemical industry.

REACH at 20: The hard task of reforming Europe’s chemicals law

August 12, 2026

“REACH survived fierce lobbying and years of political battles to become a global benchmark for chemicals regulation.” Clelia Oziel, senior correspondent (Europe) for Chemical Watch News & Insight, interviewed those who helped building the regulation (including Prof. Dr Uwe Lahl) to find out why the reform has stalled, and where a compromise may lie.

Read the article at https://product.enhesa.com/article/insight/2107267/reach-at-20-the-hard-task-of-reforming-europes-chemicals-law.

PFAS: Special regulations for recycled materials are detrimental to the circular economy (Müll und Abfall 7, 2026, in German)

Gosten A.,  Kummer B., Lahl U., Stengler E., Zeschmar-Lahl B. (2026): PFAS: Special regulations for recycled materials are detrimental to the circular economy. Müll und Abfall 7, 400-409. https://doi.org/10.37307/j.1863-9763.2026.07.07

The article outlines the current reasons and efforts to ban or regulate the PFAS group of substances in the EU. Various limit values are proposed for monitoring purposes. In this context, the Member States and the ECHA’s committees are proposing special provisions for recycled materials. Specifically, the limit values for paper are to be permanently suspended, and a transition period of 23.5 years is to be granted for plastics as a whole. The authors consider these exemptions to be inappropriate and not in the interests of the circular economy.

PFAS: Special regulations for recycled materials are detrimental to the circular economy (Müll und Abfall 7, 2026, in German)

July 23, 2026

The article by Alexaner Gosten, Beate Kummer, Uwe Lahl, Ella Stengler and Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl on the topic ‘PFAS: Special regulations for recycled materials are detrimental to the circular economy’ has been published in the journal Müll und Abfall 7, 2026.

The article outlines the current reasons and efforts to ban or regulate the PFAS group of substances in the EU. Various limit values are proposed for monitoring purposes. In this context, the Member States and the ECHA’s committees are proposing special provisions for recycled materials. Specifically, the limit values for paper are to be permanently suspended, and a transition period of 23.5 years is to be granted for plastics as a whole. The authors consider these exemptions to be inappropriate and not in the interests of the circular economy.

Below you will find a link to the order form at Erich Schmidt Verlag.

 

Müll und Abfall 7, 2026

Preview of the 38th VDI-/ITAD-Technical Conference on Thermal Waste Treatment, Würzburg, 23./24.9.2026

July 17, 2026

Plastics have radically transformed our everyday lives over the last 100 years, though not always for the better. The journalist Saabira Chaudhuri recently investigated when and why promises on recycling were made (Consumed – How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic). And why not a single one was kept. The most recent major commitment to recycling was made in 2018 by leading global companies, which together accounted for around 20 per cent of the world’s plastic packaging. They signed up to the “New Plastics Economy Global Commitment”, a voluntary initiative launched jointly by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the end of October 2018 at the 5th “Our Ocean” conference in Bali. According to the commitment, 100 per cent of plastic packaging was to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. This promise, too, has been broken..

A recycling pledge was also made in connection with the Green Dot. It is interesting to note that, to this day, there are no reliable figures on how much recycled plastic is actually produced each year. Nor is it known how much ‘virgin plastic’ has been saved as a result. This would be roughly equivalent to a car manufacturer estimating the number of cars it produces annually using an approximate factor. All of this, of course, has financial, but also technical and polymer-chemical reasons. These will be presented in a keynote speech  by Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl at the 38th VDI/ITAD Conference on Thermal Waste Treatment 2026 in Würzburg on 22 September 2026.

Below you will find the link to the VDI website for the event and to the programme leaflet (PDF).

Note: This text was revised on 29 August 2026.

Working Paper available: “Additives for plastics recycling – Need for more transparency”

May 13, 2026

On behalf of a plastics recycler, the authors undertook an investigation to determine the chemical composition and general formulation of additives used in the mechanical recycling of post-consumer plastics. Initial findings were published in 2025 in the German journal Müll und Abfall (see News from 11 July 2025 and website of Erich-Schmidt-Verlag).

Given the topicality of this subject and the upcoming discussions at EU level, including on the circular economy, we have produced a working paper for all interested parties, which can be downloaded here free of charge.

Presentation for the PFAS lecture at IFAT 2026 now available (in German)

May 6, 2026

Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl has given a presentation at IFAT on 4 May 2026 in Munich as part of the session Removal and destruction of PFAS from contaminated water streams by adsorption on activated carbon and subsequent reactivation of the saturated activated carbon on the topic Current status of EU chemicals regulation – the particular significance of substance grouping, using PFAS as an example (in German).

As long as 20 years ago, we highlighted the particular risks posed by the group of organic fluorinated compounds (Fricke & Lahl). At that time, the hazardous individual compounds were known as PFOS or PFOA. These have since been banned. However, the substitutes, which were taken from the same group of substances, have subsequently proved to be no less hazardous. Today, exposure levels in humans are so high that scientists are sounding the alarm. On the one hand, the presentation looks back to examine how this situation could have arisen. On the other hand, it also looks ahead and describes the efforts of European legislators to pull the emergency brake.

Below you will find a link to download the presentation.

Preview of IFAT 2026, Munich, 4 May 2026

April 27, 2026

Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl will give a presentation at IFAT on 4 May 2026 in Munich on the Blue Stage (B2) as part of the session Removal and destruction of PFAS from contaminated water streams by adsorption on activated carbon and subsequent reactivation of the saturated activated carbon on the topic Current status of EU chemicals regulation – the particular significance of substance grouping, using PFAS as an example (in German).

As long as 20 years ago, we highlighted the particular risks posed by the group of organic fluorinated compounds (Fricke & Lahl). At that time, the hazardous individual compounds were known as PFOS or PFOA. These have since been banned. However, the substitutes, which were taken from the same group of substances, have subsequently proved to be no less hazardous. Today, exposure levels in humans are so high that scientists are sounding the alarm. On the one hand, the presentation looks back to examine how this situation could have arisen. On the other hand, it also looks ahead and describes the efforts of European legislators to pull the emergency brake.

Below you will find the link to the event’s website.

Background Paper available: “What are the concerns around plastics and why do we need to regulate them?”

April 20, 2026

Twenty years ago, exempting polymers from the registration requirement under REACH was a political compromise. As part of its 2020 Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), the European Commission has also announced a comprehensive revision of the REACH Regulation. Among other things, the registration requirement is to be extended in future to certain polymers of concern (PoC). The criteria for classification as PoC are currently still under discussion.

At the Regulatory Developments @ Regulatory Summit Europe 2026 on April 20, 2026, in Brussels, Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl gives a presentation entitled What are the concerns around plastics and why do we need to regulate them?

Given the topical nature of this issue and the upcoming discussions at EU level, we have produced a background paper for anyone interested, which can be downloaded free of charge here. kann.

  • Lahl, U., & Zeschmar-Lahl, B. (2026). What are the concerns around plastics and why do we need to regulate them? Regulatory Developments @ Regulatory Summit Europe 2026, Brussels. Zenodo.
    https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19633696

Research Gate

BZL Kommunikation und Projektsteuerung GmbH

Lindenstr. 33 | D-28876 Oyten
Phone: +49 4207 699 838
Fax: +49 4207 699 839

E-mail1: bz*@******bh.de (Standard)
E-mail2: bz*******@******ne.de
Go to Top