It’s not the recycler. It’s you.
That was the thread running through Wednesday’s visit to the [IKK – Institut für Kunststoff- und Kreislauftechnik] at Leibniz University Hannover, where Prof. [Hans-Josef Endres] guided us through the institute himself.
Companies constantly come to him asking how their products can best be recycled while maintaining high material quality.
His point?
They’re better placed to answer that — and to improve it — than he is.
What does he mean by that?
The people who designed the product already know:
- where it comes apart
- which materials are bonded
- where the value sits
The recycler doesn’t.
If a product isn’t designed for disassembly, material separation, or recovery of valuable components, even the best recycling technology drives up costs and eventually reaches its limits.
In other words:
The best recycling method is design for recycling.
Standing in front of the actual machines while he explained where material separation can physically fail taught us more about the real challenges in recycling than any report or webinar could.
Some things you only understand when you see them.
But another part of our discussion stayed with me just as much.
For circularity to work, companies need three things:
→ Reverse logistics
How do products or materials come back?
→ Technical solution
Which recycling, repair, remanufacturing, or recovery pathway is feasible — and what does the optimal product design for it look like?
→ Business approach
Which pathway makes economic and operational sense for this specific product?
That third point is where I have found my place.