As a regional center of excellence for labor research, KARE is introducing itself to the business, political and social communities in the region (in and around Franconia) and invites you to an information and networking event at the Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ in Würzburg on Thursday, December 5, 2024.

At the KARE kick-off in October 2023. The competence center invites you to an information event at the SKZ on December 5, 2024. (Photo: Luca Hoffmannbeck, SKZ)

The event aims to facilitate exchange between companies, politics and science

The transformation to a resource- and environmentally friendly circular economy for plastics is an unavoidable necessity and is becoming increasingly urgent, particularly as a result of increasing regulatory requirements such as the “EU Green Deal” and the EU action plan for the circular economy. Companies in the plastics value chain are therefore called upon to actively shape these transformation processes. In particular, the new requirements also demand new concepts for workflows and environments, which must be co-designed by employees. With KARE, the transformation to a circular economy should be used as an opportunity to redesign work processes in companies in terms of meaningful and healthy work. To achieve these goals for society and the economy, sustainable solutions must be found that focus on people, the environment and technology in the form of participatory work design.

Panel discussion and workshops
To present the KARE project, an information and networking event will take place at the Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ in Würzburg on Thursday, December 5, 2024. Through a variety of presentations, companies and interested parties will be informed about the role of future-oriented work design in the transformation to a circular economy and the potential that KARE offers in this area will be demonstrated. During the event, participants will gain insights into the project and learn how companies in the plastics industry can benefit from KARE in the future. A panel discussion will focus on the current challenges of the circular economy, sustainability and the shortage of skilled workers. Afterwards, participants can actively develop solutions for a sustainable work design in three parallel workshops.

The foundation for closer networking in the region
“The first two workshops will focus on the circular economy in the plastics industry and the challenges it presents, and on securing a skilled workforce in the local plastics industry. The third workshop will deal with companies' sustainability reporting obligations,” explains Dr. Hermann Achenbach, Group Manager Sustainability and Circular Economy at SKZ. Jonathan Lambers, group leader for the transformation of the plastics industry at SKZ, adds: “The event offers an excellent opportunity for exchange between companies, politics and science and is intended to lay the foundation for closer networking in the region in order to jointly develop solutions for the transformation to a circular economy.”

Participation in the event is free of charge and registration is now open.
Further information about the program
Further information about KARE

About KARE:
In the KARE project, an interdisciplinary team from the fields of education, research and industry is working to establish a competence center for work research for the circular economy of plastics. The network is developing new concepts for work processes and environments that can be co-designed and experienced by employees. KARE is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the program “The Future of Value Creation - Research on Production, Services and Work” (funding code: 02L22C200) from October 2023 to September 2028 with a total of around 10 million euros and is supervised by the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA). The aim is to consolidate the regional center of excellence beyond the project period. KARE consists of five research institutes, ten application companies, one association and nine associated partners (companies, social and network partners). The central coordination of the network is carried out by the Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ.

Best practice solutions for SMEs
In six lighthouse projects, the network is testing specific solutions and application scenarios for circular economy for important problems faced by companies. The areas of design for sustainability, digital monitoring solutions for sustainability and circular economy, waste management, avoidance of granulate losses, as well as in-house recycling and use of recycled materials are given equal consideration. To this end, technical and economic analyses are carried out and new approaches for resource- and environmentally friendly working environments are developed, also with the support of digital tools. The findings are made available as transformation concepts and qualification offers for companies as well as for universities of applied sciences and universities, and are also available for transregional transfer to industry, society and politics.