Saabira Chaudhuri<\/a> recently investigated when and why promises on recycling were made (Consumed \u2013 How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic<\/i>). And why not a single one was kept. The last major recycling pledge in Germany was made by leading brand manufacturers in 2012 at a conference at Krickenbeck Castle near D\u00fcsseldorf. Moderated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the voluntary commitment was signed to make all packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. This pledge, too, was broken.<\/p>\nA 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 \u2018virgin plastic\u2019 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\u00a0 by Prof. Dr. Uwe Lahl at the 38th<\/sup> VDI\/ITAD Conference on Thermal Waste Treatment 2026 in W\u00fcrzburg<\/b> on 22 September 2026.<\/p>\nBelow you will find the link to the VDI website for the event and to the programme leaflet (PDF).<\/p>\n<\/div>
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