November 30, 2025

Prof. Dr. habil. Uwe Lahl will deliver a keynote speech on “Ten claims for the Circular Economy” at the Berlin Conference on Waste Management and Energy 2026 (BKAWE26) on January 28, 2026. Back in spring 2025, he and his co-authors analyzed resource policy and waste management priorities in ten areas of action and identified key points that they believe can advance Europe as an industrial location (see our news item from May 16, 2025). They focused on plastics and biomass because these are important sources of renewable carbon for industry in Europe. In view of the differing but also critical responses to the paper, this analysis was refined and regulatory proposals were added for a legal framework that would enable investment in climate protection and the future of the chemical industry.

You can download the program flyer via the link below or use the link to the BKAWE26 website.

July 11, 2025

The article by Prof. Dr. habil. Uwe Lahl and Dr. Barbara Zeschmar-Lahl on the topic “The new market for recycling additives – Need for action by the legislator“ has been published in Müll und Abfall 7, 2025.

In recent years, a market for chemical additives to improve the quality of plastic recyclates has been established. High growth opportunities are expected for these additives. The products are very diverse and can be used, for example, for the post-stabilization of recyclates or to reduce unpleasant odors. There are also products on the market that can repair damaged polymers. And additives are available that improve the miscibility of inhomogeneous sorting fractions. On behalf of a plastics recycler, the authors have attempted to find out the chemical identity and basic formulation of these plastic additives. However, this information is mostly not disclosed. Even in the available safety data sheets, the composition of these products was regularly not included. Only in individual cases, declarable individual substances have been specified. However, it is known from discussions and the gray literature that highly reactive substances are sometimes used for these products, which are to be added directly to the hot melt in the extruder. Now that the SME recycling industry is already confronted with plastic waste containing banned additives from the past (risk cycle, legacy-chemicals), a new problem is emerging for the future: are these practices sufficiently safe? The authors advise caution here and therefore advise against the use of recycling additives whose chemical identity and basic formulation are not disclosed.

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

June 25, 2025

The amount of plastic produced worldwide has reached 400 million metric tonnes in 2022. Estimated 3–5% of this amount ends up in the environment, where it poses significant threats to ecosystems and biodiversity. Littering, a growing global challenge, requires a combination approach to tackle its causes and mitigate its impact. There are different strategies to combat littering. But even with immediate and concerted action to reduce consumption of plastics, more than 700 million tonnes of plastic waste will cumulatively enter the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems until 2040. Waste management systems, even if improved, do not have sufficient capacity at the global level to cope with the huge mass of plastics entering the environment. Especially for plastic, which will foreseeable and inevitably enter the environment, where it can persist for hundreds of years (‘forever’ plastics), a solution is needed. Biodegradable plastics, that meet the criteria of ‘Safe and Sustainable by Design’ (SSbD) offer innovation perspectives and can be a complementary strategy to tackle the marine litter problem.

We are very pleased to announce that the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research – Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung (ZMT) has granted open access to our joint article „Third-generation biodegradable plastics – A complementary strategy to tackle the marine litter problem“ due to high demand.

Lahl, R., Bleischwitz, R., Lahl, U., Zeschmar-Lahl, B. (2025): Third-generation biodegradable plastics – A complementary strategy to tackle the marine litter problem. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 44, 101925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2025.101925

See also: ZMT at the UNOC3 (Third UN Ocean Conference), Nice, 9.-13.6.2025