In the Competence Centre Waste Disposal and Recycling Management, we support small and medium-sized enterprises in the private and public sectors in the areas of waste disposal and sorting, as well as manufacturers and operators of plants for material or energy recovery and processing of waste of all kinds.

Against the backdrop of the energy transition and the associated goal of replacing fossil fuels and raw materials in the product life cycles, the recycling of secondary raw materials is becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, due to the requirement to reduce_{CO2 emissions}, and on the other hand, a resulting increase in the purchase price for fossil raw materials will lead to greater economic efficiency in the use of waste as a raw material.

An important approach here is the increased use of sorted waste in order to reuse it in a real cycle according to its chemical composition. A good example of this is the recycling of PET, where this approach is already being implemented in many products.

In addition to material reuse, however, the energetic use of waste will also become more important in the future. Instead of today's waste incineration plants, which are also burdened with the requirements to reduce_{CO2 emissions}, new technologies will increasingly be used that utilise waste both energetically and chemically. Such plants can then also be used to generate hydrogen from waste, giving the waste management industry an additional overlap with the energy industry that goes far beyond the use of district heating. Hydrogen produced from waste can make a major contribution in many ways to the conversion of energy supply from fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable energy sources.

All these developments will not only mean technological realignments for companies in the waste management and environmental service branch, but also changes and adaptations in the know-how of the employees. In the future, this sector will also increasingly need scientists and engineers from the fields of chemistry, process engineering or energy and plant engineering. Against the background of the current shortage of specialists and managers, we support these companies in building up this expertise by selecting suitable employees.