Sustainable and resilient supply of raw materials: how materials can be turned back into valuable resources

Munich, 09 November 2023

The availability of critical metal raw materials is increasingly affecting not only the competitiveness but also the capacity of Germany and its international partners to innovate. How can greater independence, resilience and sustainability of the raw materials supply be achieved? What potential do secondary raw materials and recyclable material systems hold? These questions were discussed by experts from science, business and society with a specialist audience at the acatech topic conference “Werkstoffe – Wertstoffe – Rohstoffe” (materials – reusable materials – raw materials) in Amerikahaus Munich. acatech President Jan Wörner summed up in these words: secondary raw materials and the establishment of a comprehensive circular economy must play an ever greater role.

In his welcoming address, acatech President Jan Wörner painted a clear picture of how important a holistic approach is: “Raw materials supply is a key topic when it comes to the future of Germany and Europe as centres of business and innovation. We can overcome critical dependencies by creating alternatives while – alongside the primary raw materials – making increasing use of secondary raw materials as material sources of the future as well as applying reduction strategies. We have to replace linear value chains with flexible value-creation networks with many alternative connections and routes. Digitalisation is a key instrument for establishing an intelligent, comprehensive circular economy. In this way we can uncouple economic growth and security of prosperity from resource consumption.”

The conference started with the block themed “primary and secondary raw materials”, with four speakers giving a comprehensive overview:

The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by spokesman of the acatech Energy and Resources topic network Hans-Joachim Kümpel (President [retd] of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources). The debate threw up interfaces between and interesting approaches to the four individual keynote speeches.

“In light of the growing demand, it was very clear to us that, in the medium term, both the extraction of primary raw materials and the establishment of a comprehensive circular economy are very important. Sustainability in relation to raw materials supply will mean integrating economic, ecological and societal sustainability targets – from mining to the use phase and on to recycling. However, we also have an obligation to ensure transparency and to emphasise scientific findings in the discourse,” said Hans-Joachim Kümpel.

Recyclable material systems for practical solution strategies

The second block delved deeper into recyclable material systems focusing on metal raw materials.

Topic groups bring the participants into the conversation

Guests were able to speak directly to the keynote speakers in the topic groups. In these moderated round tables, challenges and possible solutions were identified and discussions held on what is required of politics, science, business and society. The results were then presented to the entire audience in the panel discussion that followed. “The topic conference showed that we have many means available to us to make raw materials, resources and ground-breaking high-performance materials recyclable. Our task will be to use in an integrated and confident manner and to put into practice consistently the extensive scientific and technological expertise available to us. Germany and the EU need a systematic approach that covers the chain from raw material to materials, products and on to recycling,” said Frank Mücklich, Director of the Material Engineering Center Saarland of Saarland University and spokesman of the acatech topic network “Materials Science and Engineering” in conclusion.