Prior to this year, the traditional award was called “Plastics’ recycler of the year”. As of this year BKV and Fraunhofer UMSICHT recognize pioneering work in the field of plastics and sustainability which are no longer required to belong exclusively to the field of recycling. Dr. Edmund Dolfen, the awardee this year, was honored as he unifies tradition and the future of the award, as last year’s awardee, Dr. Thomas Probst (bvse), and Prof. Eckhard Weidner, director of Fraunhofer UMSICHT, highlighted during their speeches. With his life’s work in the field of recycling of plastics as well as the new development of biodegradable and biobased plastics, Dolfen was honored with this year’s award.

Mechanical engineer with entrepreneurial genes

After his mechanical engineering studies at the RWTH Aachen and graduation at the Institute of Plastics IKV Aachen, Dolfen worked in the industrial plastics machinery industry and as a freelance consultant. Together with Prof. Heinz Breuer he founded the Research Institute for Plastics and Recycling (Forschungsinstitut Kunststoff und Recycling – FKuR) in 1992 as an affiliated institute of the University of Applied Sciences, Niederrhein.

Excellent networker and strong leader

Besides the research and development of new procedural solutions for the material recycling of plastics, Dolfen initiated and promoted the professional dialogue and the establishment of relevant networks. In its first year, FKuR hosted the first Plastics Recycling Symposium – now a collaborative event of BKV and UMSICHT – which took place for the 20th time this year. With numerous events and publications, he spread the expertise in the field of plastics’ recycling and created an opinion making basis.

Award winner with a feeling for trends

In 1997, Dolfen took up the topic of bioplastics as a further research focus, which was pursued in 1998 in cooperation with Fraunhofer UMSICHT. He quickly realized that a successful application-oriented material development also included efficient compounders. In 2003, he founded the FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, which became one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of bioplastics.
Due to his strong merits and contribution to the sustainable use of plastics and plastic waste BKV and UMSICHT have chosen Dr. Edmund Dolfen as the winner of the 2011 Plastics‘ Sustainability Award .