Solution

RETech offers the opportunity to initiate individual waste management and recycling concepts as well as diverse feasibility studies with the German recycling industry and research. It is important to keep into mind, that there are no standard solutions.

Standard waste management solutions cannot be applied across the board. Irrespective of the global requirements for climate protection, energy saving, energy efficiency and sustainable development, the following principle should apply: when determining the "right" strategic direction for each target region’s waste management policy, the main issue should be to ascertain, in each case, the stage of development it has reached in terms of environmental protection and waste management, while also taking account of the conditions in the region (environmental behavior, the composition of its waste, its legal bases and their implementation, its economic development, its waste disposal market, its pricing models etc.). Political facilitation and support for across-the-board solutions cannot be justified by the arguments and opinions of experts, e.g. about issues such as "end-of-pipe or recycling", "mechanical-biological treatment of waste or incineration", "materials recycling or energy recovery", which have been and are still being debated intensively in Germany. For example, from the perspective of German and European environmental policy (and with regard to the future), disposing of waste in domestic landfill sites is clearly the very last option in the waste management hierarchy, and in practice, cannot be viewed in isolation from the systems for separation of waste, recyclable materials collection and organic waste recycling.

However, this scenario does not (yet) exist in most of the developing countries and could only be established gradually in lengthy processes. For this reason, it would seem sensible to pursue "modest" but feasible waste management goals which would bring about a significant improvement compared to the status quo: the better solution rather than the optimum one. Nevertheless, developing and raising technical standards should always be the core of the strategic focus. Adhering to technical standards for the collection, treatment and disposal of waste has a direct impact by improving environmental standards and helps to internalize unwanted external effects. It also opens the door to the possibility of selling innovative or adapted environmental technologies, depending on local conditions in the specific country.

Synergies are best achieved in a core area (selected countries and regions). German providers have implemented individual projects or gained experience in virtually every country in the world. To enable the initiative to concentrate on a core area in which the best outcomes are expected (raising ecological standards, scientific and economic successes), it is now vital to find a common denominator in overseas activities.