Despite their considerable value, most plastic products are currently incinerated at the end of their life cycle. If we understand and address recycling as a societal challenge with its cultural, historical or sociological aspects, we can help to recycle much more than today and proceed towards a circular economy regarding this resource.

It is part of Challenge Based Learning that the participating students work together to develop the concrete research question they want to follow along with. Possible focus areas could include

- Availability of recycled plastics. - Increasing knowledge, - Finding added value, - Design for recycling/product design, - Source separation of plastics or

The aim of the seminar is to conduct comprehensive research that is well-founded in terms of content and concept in order to create a basis for actionable and sustainable solutions addressing current challenges. The seminar will focus on potential contributions of social actors, such as consumers.The concept of Challenge Based Learning includes the involvement of external experts if needed and in response to specific questions. In addition, experts from the Institute (V-09) are available to support with their expertise on recyclingprocesses, staff from the ZLL to support teamwork, and Gesa Mayer (SLS) for the social science perspective and methods of empirical social research.

The examination will be a practical and theoretical examination and will include the written documentation of the results (approx. 5 pages) with an oral presentation (approx. 15 min) or a demonstration of the tested solution (approx. 15 min).

Literature: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017. The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics & catalysing action. Garcia, Jeannette M., and Megan L. Robertson. "The future of plastics recycling." Science (2017). Lebreton, Laurent, and Anthony Andrady. "Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal." Palgrave Communications 5.1 (2019)