Project KARE as a guest at the Week of the Environment at Bellevue Palace
The SKZ Plastics Center, together with the Franconian Plastics Network, presented the KARE project as part of the Week of the Environment in Berlin's Bellevue Palace. At the invitation of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the German Federal Environmental Foundation, visitors were able to find out all about pioneering solutions for a climate-neutral future.
KARE project stand at the Environment Week in Bellevue Palace. (Photo: SKZ)Z)
Berlin Environment Week is dedicated to the challenges of the future - SKZ presents current cooperation project
Environment Week took place for the seventh time on June 4 and 5, 2024 directly on the grounds of Schloss Bellevue and "is intended to show what we can and must do to have a good future on our planet" - as Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) described it in his opening speech this year.
Qualification via ideas competition
A total of 190 exhibitors had the opportunity to present their solutions and visions for the future to a wide audience in the unique atmosphere of Bellevue Palace Park. In order to obtain one of the coveted and prestigious places, the projects had to qualify via an ideas competition and prevail against numerous competitors. The SKZ Plastics Center from Würzburg was also there, presenting the KARE cooperation project together with one of the associated partners, the Franconian Plastics Network KNF.
Establishment of a competence center
In the KARE project, an interdisciplinary team from education, research and industry is working on the establishment of a competence center for work research for the circular economy of plastics. The team is developing new concepts for work processes and environments that can be co-designed and lived by employees.
Human aspect of the transformation comes more to the fore
"In addition to the diverse and exciting technological solutions, I have noticed above all that the human aspect of transformation is increasingly coming to the fore. KARE's approach of combining the two is therefore exactly right," explains Frédéric Achereiner, Project Manager Research and Innovation at SKZ.
Give-aways made from recycled material
At the KARE project stand, visitors were able to find out more about the project in technical discussions. They also had the opportunity to experience the circular economy up close at an interactive hands-on station and make their own giveaways from recyclate. KNF employees made this possible with a hand-operated injection molding machine. This gave the shredded plastic waste a second use as a ruler, spinning top or even a dinosaur figure.
Politics seeks discourse with civil society
The SKZ employees were impressed by the event and were satisfied with the discussions held and the positive response to the KARE project presented: "I had the impression that politicians are seriously interested in the best ecologically and socially compatible solutions and are seeking discourse with civil society in order to find the best possible regulatory framework to promote these solutions," says Jonathan Lambers, Group Manager Transformation of the Plastics Industry at the SKZ. "Overall, the visit was not only a very successful appearance by KARE, but also good feedback for our sustainability research department at the SKZ, which is working on a large number of projects on the circularity of plastics."
About the project:
The research project KARE "Kompetenzzentrum der Arbeitsforschung KARE: Kompetenzen Aufbauen für die Kreislaufwirtschaft von Kunststoffen" is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the program "Zukunft der Wertschöpfung - Forschung zu Produktion, Dienstleistung und Arbeit" (funding code: 02L22C200) and supervised by the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA). Responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the author.
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