IAK at the "Travelling conference" (AUS, VN, ROK)

Roman Maletz and Christina Dornack represented IAK at the traveling conference: REECO-WM: "Resource efficiency and environmental compatibility in waste management", which took place from Jan. 29 - Feb. 6 in Seoul (Jan. 29 and 30), in Ho Chi Minh City (Feb. 1 and 2) and in Perth (Feb. 5 and 6, 2018).

The main topic of the traveling conference REECO-WM is environmentally compatible waste management that contributes to increasing resource efficiency. Raw materials can be recovered from waste. Within the framework of this project, investigations into the separate collection of waste are to be initiated. Separate collection creates the basis for high-quality recycling, enables material flows to be recirculated and reduces the quantities of waste going to landfill. In destination countries in particular, this can save landfill capacity and reduce harmful environmental impacts of landfills, which are often unorganized or not secured according to the state of the art. However, these secondary raw materials may contain pollutants that pose a potential hazard to humans and the environment. It is therefore important to be able to assess the environmental impact of secondary raw materials using realistic methods. Korea, for example, is aiming for a "zero landfill" strategy by 2010. For the countries of the partner institutions, the most efficient and cost-effective recycling and prevention strategies under the local conditions are to be evaluated in a joint scientific exchange. Along with waste prevention, the introduction of separate collection is one of the most promising approaches to reducing harmful environmental impacts caused by uncontrolled dumping of residual materials (UBA-Texte 56/2015). In the context of a Sino-German workshop organized by the Institute of Waste and Circular Economy in Shanghai in June 2016, the relevance of these waste management challenges for both developing and industrialized countries was currently confirmed by 24 German and Chinese waste management professors.

The conference was led by BAM - Federal Institute for Materials Research and TU Dresden, Institute for Waste and Recycling Management two research institutions involved as well as GUI GmbH and the expert office Susset, two private companies strongly involved in this field.

With Korea and Australia, 2 countries from the lower half of the G20 group are involved. The industry is developed and environmental standards are high. However, the consumption of resources is also high, so that measures to increase resource efficiency are of great importance. Resource efficiency can be increased in particular by recycling mineral waste. This is of particular interest to Australia as a country with intensive mining operations. Korea and Australia are currently reorienting themselves with regard to the regulations for the environmental impact assessment of recycling activities and are therefore very interested in an exchange of experiences with Germany. On the other hand, both countries are also developing modern processes for recycling secondary raw materials (e.g. recycling of sludge in Australia or of steel mill slag in Korea), which are also of interest for German industrial research. Vietnam is not part of the G20 group, but has a highly developed industry. The issue of contaminated sites is always present, partly still due to the war. Therefore, environmental impact assessment methods are important for Vietnam that are practical, replicate reality well, and allow reliable subsequent risk assessment.

The foreign project partners are organizing visits to recycling companies as part of the project.

The aim of the conference was to discuss experiences in dealing with waste with the partners from Southeast Asia and Australia and to design joint approaches for economically and ecologically sensible waste management concepts. In the coming weeks, the new cooperations will be further deepened.