The vision of the circular economy is closed material cycles. The avoidance, reuse and recycling of waste are not, however, the exclusive goals, but will contribute to a long-term sustainable and a significantly more resource-efficient economic system overall. In doing so, it must be taken into consideration that only limited shares of natural resources can fully circulate in loops. What is more, resources are also needed for the technical recovery of raw materials from waste, and the replacement by bio-based raw materials is also limited due to the global availability of arable land.

The Research Unit Material Loops therefore aims to conduct an interdisciplinary investigation of the following key research questions:

• Which raw materials can be circulated and which interdependencies have to be considered?
• How can changes in the material flows be quantified and evaluated?
• Which materials, products or wastes should be prioritised in order to save resources through avoidance, reuse and recycling?
• What policy approaches are required and appropriate for a comprehensive transformation from the local to the global level?
• What are the decisive obstacles and what measures can be taken to overcome them?

The transformation to a circular economy is a comprehensive technical, political and cultural challenge. It requires completely new approaches combining previously isolated topics such as product design, sustainable consumption or resource-efficient management with waste management issues. To this end, the Research Unit uses quantitative analyses of resource efficiency in the circular economy (MFA, LCA) as well as qualitative and empirical policy analyses of transformation paths and instruments.

The scientists at the Material Loops Research Unit identify and analyse innovative technical and policy approaches that cover the entire life cycle of the material flow – from raw material extraction to disposal. They examine and evaluate policy instruments in terms of their effects, their feasibility and the innovation processes and impacts they induce. The researchers also seek and generate new ideas as to how recyclable products should be designed and how to plan waste management infrastructures that can be flexibly adapted to reduced waste volumes.