­”This means that Chalmers is one of a kind in the worldwide recycling field. Nowhere else are all three components - research, competence centre and industrial recycling research school - gathered in one place,” says Christian Ekberg, Professor of Industrial Materials Recycling.

CCRG, financed primarily by the Västra Götaland Region in Sweden, has a broad interdisciplinary approach. The members' expertise extends from philosophy and biology to chemical engineering and environmental systems analysis.

“This is a ‘do centre’ where we devote our efforts to solving problems,” says Christian Ekberg. “We will not spend our time formulating the problems, as there are already enough people doing that.”

The new co-ordinator, Petra Andersson, will direct the work, disseminate knowledge and establish contacts with external institutions. Research can be a matter of finding answers to very specific questions: How long a distance are we willing to walk to reach a recycling station in order to sort out household waste? To what extent is a purchase from a store affected by environmental discussions?

­”The initiative comes at the right time. According to international trends and legislation, materials recycling must increase. It is not a long-term solution to store enormous quantities of waste or to burn it unnecessarily,” says Christer Forsgren, Head of Technology and Environmental Science at Stena Metall.