Cascade Use - Contribution of material cascade utilization to sustainable
resource management

The research group Cascade Use (CCU) supports the ambition of societal actors towards a reduced resource use and minimizing CO2 emissions in the long-term. The members of the research group are developing and testing a key assessment tool. The interdisciplinary work concentrates on the two core questions of how materials are integrated into life cycles and when they will become available for reuse and/or recycling. Thereby, the target is to keep resources within the economic cycle as long as possible in order to reduce or even avoid the use of primary raw materials. For this purpose, the car serves as showcase application, respectively the reuse/recycling of car components with a focus on the market situation in China and Germany. By calculating the reduction of CO2 emissions the user can decide for himself how much he/she wants to contribute to resource efficiency.