District president finds out about the idea for a JRF research institute for plastics recycling

In a personal visit, District President Judith Pirscher informed herself about the activities to establish a plastics recycling institute at the University of Paderborn.
JRF stands here for Johannes-Rau-Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V..

There are institutes of this kind at various university locations in NRW with different orientations in terms of content. These institutes are provided with basic institutional funding by the government and then conduct research in their fields of work. OWL does not have a JRF research institute and is thus a blank spot on the map in NRW.

"The idea of letting the topic of plastics recycling sail under the JRF flag is of social relevance. We hope for political support from one of the ministries in NRW to raise permanent institutional basic funding for this," says Professor Dr. Elmar Moritzer, Chair of Plastics Technology at the University in Paderborn.

"The discussions we are having with plastics disposal companies in this context are met with great interest in the content and at the same time incomprehension that no one here is willing to secure the basic funding," says Dr. Matthias Hopp, senior engineer at Plastics Technology Paderborn.

"Such an institute would represent a unique selling point for the region of East Westphalia-Lippe. The expertise built up in this field of research is remarkable.
Many companies in NRW could benefit from this," says Judith Pirscher.

From left to right: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Elmar Moritzer (KTP), District President Judith Pirscher and Dr.-Ing. Matthias Hopp (KTP)