On May 16th, 2018, Hessian Minister of the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Priska Hinz, and Kristine Exner, Head of Department,  Hessian Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, officially presented the resource protection strategy of the Government of Hesse. Well-known experts from science discussed the importance of an effective handling of raw materials in order to maintain our global ecosystem and supply for a growing world population.

One of the main aspects of the strategy is the recovery of phosphorus from sludge. On the background of a growing phosphorus concentration in soils and waters as well as the new sludge regulation, prompt action is required. In the near future, this will mainly affect municipal waste water plants. In Hesse, there are already some pilot projects. The Fraunhofer Project Group IWKS as well participates in publicly funded projects that aim at extracting phosphorus from sewage and sludge and converting it into fertilizer or products for other fields of application.

During the conference, the participants discussed different fields of action of resource strategies. Dr. Andreas Stegmüller, scientist in the department Strategy and Networks of the Project Group, underlined the high importance of metallic raw materials for the manufacturing industry in Hesse and manifold devices of everyday use. The Project Group IWKS does not only provide technologic answers in form of recycling processes for batteries, electronic devices and magnets, it also develops comprehensive concepts for product design and disposal routes. “The ideal of a circular economy can be achieved also at regional scale, if we consume high-quality products that have been produced efficiently and that are originally designed for a recycling,“ says Stegmüller.