Waste is not only recycled to reduce the amount of disposal; its primary aim is to supply the production process with inputs for further production. "Waste" thus competes with primary resources. A true circular economy should aim at avoiding the downcycling of raw materials contained in waste, in particular by developing resource-based targets instead of solely weight-based ones. This will require innovative approaches to global resource management for waste that go beyond a mere transfer of environmental burdens.

Within its Circular Transitions Research Unit, the Wuppertal Institute develops strategies and concepts for a low-waste, resource-efficient society. The socio-economic, technical, and institutional challenges this entails are analysed and innovative approaches are developed and realised in cooperation with practice partners. Key areas include the development and evaluation of national waste prevention programmes, the optimisation of individual material flows (platinum group metals, copper, plastics) by research scientists at the Circular Systems Research Unit, and the further development of concepts of extended producer responsibility concepts (waste electrical and electronic equipment, end-of-life vehicles).