Prof. Stéphane Mangin updates on WMF preparatory works for the Plenary session on Recycling and Light weighting

20 years ago lightweighting was encouraged mostly for long life time products (aircrafts) whereas recycling was considered mostly for short life time products (packaging). Over the last 20 years an increasing pressure appeared to do both for various reasons. For example cars and smart phones are lighter and lighter but they come in end of life in huge volumes and which specific issues created by their multi materials structures that are uneasy to separate. Moreover both lightweighting ( as for aircrafts)  and recycling  (as for packaging) come every year closer to their limits.

Improving materials efficiency while supporting growth and creating value for all stakeholders therefore requires a combination of both lightweighting and High Value Recycling (HVR).

Prof. Stephane Mangin (WMF Steering Committee) states:

We have had two preparatory calls with the two co chairsThierry LE HÉNAFF (CEO Arkema -France) and Egil HOGNA (CEO SAPA-Norway) and the four speakers Denis HUGELMANN (CEO Ecotitanium - France), Prof. Sunan DING ( Suzhou Institute of Technology - China), Andreas REISSNER – ( CCO Pyral -Germany) and Brett SCHNEIDER – (Senior Vice President Business Development Hexcel - USA). And we are amazed at the initiatives presented that encompass an incredible variety of new materials, new product designs and new processes that all allow to combine lightweighting and recycling and therefore unlock huge potential for materials efficiency.