The waste disposal industry has given way to the recycling management industry - a fact reflected today in politics and business. Returning the raw materials contained in waste to the recycling loop is a key component of sustainable resource management.
The use of secondary raw materials also offers a way out of the impending raw materials crisis, by uncoupling economic growth and resource consumption on a fundamental level.
In fact, secondary raw materials already account for a good 14 per cent of German industry's annual raw material consumption.