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IFAT impact:What are the opportunities?


The coronavirus crisis isputtingenormouspressureonthe economy and municipalities.However,despite themany challenges andobstacles, there are alsoopportunities.ThenewIFATimpact knowledgeplatform supports the environmental technology sector inrecognizingand seizingthese. Stress testpassed:“If there is anythingpositive tobegainedfromthe pandemic, it is this: ithasmadeus acutely awareof the importanceof a secure supply, includingof energy anddrinkingwater,”saysMichael Riechel, Presidentof theGermanTechnical andScientificAssociationfor Gas andWater (DVGW).Accordingtohim, the companieshave for example succeededinmaintainingthehighlevelofdrinkingwater supplydespite staffshortages andsupply restrictions. Riechel:“The coronavirusoutbreak is yet anotherof the testsour systemshave passed.”


Accelerated: digital transformation


Inaddition, inmany companies the infectioncontrolmeasureshave acceleratedthedigitalizationofworkprocesses.TheDVGWPresident is sure:“Due tothephysicaldistancingmeasures, thedigital agenda, whichalready existedinmany cases,wasgiventoppriority. Suddenly, employeeswere forcedtodiscover thepossibilities andbenefitsof the digital transformation. Insome areas, ahundredpercent conversion tookplace virtuallyovernight—a trendthatwill alsoshape thepost- coronavirus era.”


Proven: systemic importance


TheGermanwastemanagement industrywithstoodthe strains triggeredby thepandemic aswell.“Practicallynoneofourmember companieshas stoppedworking,”reports Eric Rehbock.TheManaging Directorof the FederalAssociationfor Secondary RawMaterials and WasteManagement (bvse) continues:“Theprivatewastemanagement sectorhas kept alldisposal channelsopenfor citizens,but alsofor commerce, trade andindustry—alsoandespeciallywheremunicipal facilitieshadbeenclosedor restricted.” Therewas alsopraise frompoliticians. InApril this year, Federal EnvironmentMinister Svenja Schulze said:“Especially inthesedifficult times,waste collectionanddisposal companiesprove their systemic importance toour country.”Ina jointpress release togetherwiththe FederalAssociationof theGermanWaste,Water andRawMaterials Management Industry (BDE), she andBDE President PeterKurthpaid tribute tothe achievementsof theGermanwastemanagement and circular economyduringthe coronavirus crisis.Kurthmakes clear that this systemic importance isbynomeans limitedtoconsistently emptiedwastebins:“Particularly inthe current situation, thewaste disposal infrastructure inmany sectorsmaintains industrialproduction


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byprovidingrecyclingrawmaterials suchaswasteglass,wastepaper andmetals. So, theGermancircular economy ensures that the chainof productionisnotdisrupted.”


Hope for newstimulus


What the industry spokespersons have in common is the hope that the reorientation of themarket economy, possibly triggered by the pandemic,will provide positive impulses for their sectors. The DVGW emphasizes the strong directional impulse that corresponding stimulus and investment packages could have on the energy supply’s decarbonization path after the crisis. The bvse and the BDE hope that the demand and themarket opportunities for recycling rawmaterialswill be improved bymeans of clever incentives.


Sewage treatment plants used for infectionmonitoring in the future?


The coronavirus crisismay lead to a newtask for sewage treatment plants as earlywarning systems. For example, a teamofwastewater experts,microbiologists, virologists andmodelers fromthe Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, the German Association forWater,Wastewater andWaste (DWA) and the Technical University of Dresden is currentlyworking on directly determining the total degree of infection in the catchment area of wastewater treatment plants fromrepresentativewastewater samples. Sewage treatment plant operators of numerous cities support them. “Ifwastewatermonitoringworks and can be implemented nationwide, there is a huge potential for dealingwith the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic—and, in the long term, for comparable future pandemics—because itwill allowvalid data on the so-called infestation of the population to be collected and analyzed,”comments Saxony's ScienceMinister Sebastian Gemkow. According to the DWA, themeasuring systemcould, for example, be used tomonitor the consequences of easing restrictions in infection control and, if necessary, to adjust them.


Newmarketing ideas


As in other economic sectors, some companies have developed creative (marketing) ideas. Example: a cooperation of companies is nowoffering technical solutions to ensure drinkingwater hygiene for hotels, restaurants, schools aswell as day-care and sports facilities after theweek-long coronavirus shutdown (keyword: contamination and legionella). And amanufacturer ofmaterial handlers,which are also used in thewaste and recycling industry, offers its customers a new, interest-free financingmodel that enables immediate revenue generationwith the newmachine— even before the first installment is paid.


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