From sorting technology and recycling awareness to product design, the project aimed to overcome the key technical and non-technical barriers. Fraunhofer UMSICHT worked in particular on the topics of “Design for Recycling,” “Collection,” and the City Lab program, producing, among other things, a study on consumer behaviour.
In a podcast recorded at the Syschemiq project’s closing event, Anna Kerps (Fraunhofer UMSICHT) discusses the opportunities and challenges of resource-efficient packaging design.
Mixed plastic waste poses a particular challenge for recycling, since the different plastic types cannot be recycled together. Product design also plays a major role: some packaging combines different types of plastic that consumers would need to sort separately — for example, the aluminium lid and polypropylene (PP) cup of a yoghurt container. More than 85 percent of mixed plastic waste in the EU is currently lost. EU-wide, circular system solutions at the regional level along the entire value chain are therefore needed to tap this potential.
Within the Syschemiq project, transferable concepts for sorting plastic waste, approaches to chemical recycling, and strategies for scalable circular solutions were developed for the tri-border region of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Participatory elements involving consumers were also part of the project. Partners are now putting these results into further practice, particularly at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus.
Study on Consumer Behaviour
Fraunhofer UMSICHT produced a study and a tool that, for the first time, systematically integrates consumer behaviour and recycling habits into life cycle assessment (“Design for Recycling”).
“The study incorporates consumer behaviour into the life cycle assessment (LCA) in order to evaluate the environmental impact of yoghurt packaging under different design variants and disposal scenarios,” explains Dr. Anna Kerps, project researcher at Fraunhofer UMSICHT.
Key recommendations for product design included favouring larger portion sizes to reduce material use per kilogram of yoghurt, using simple PP lidding films in combination with PP cups, and providing clear, clearly visible separation instructions and standardized recycling symbols to improve sorting accuracy.
The researchers also analyzed the current status of packaging waste collection and sorting in Germany, as a basis for optimizing these processes (“Collection & Sorting”). To study consumption and disposal behaviour, they set up a “City Lab” that directly involved citizens and developed educational formats for schools around the topic of recycling.
In the podcast, Dr. Anna Kerps explains, among other things, the biggest obstacles in recycling chains, the advantages plastic offers over glass or cardboard, and how consumers respond to different types of product packaging.
(Source: Fraunhofer UMSICHT)
