15 May 2025

In the southern Harz region, plaster history is being retold with the help of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences.

The AkzeptGips research project as part of the joint project "Gypsum recycling as an opportunity for the southern Harz region" is developing new approaches for the acceptance and sustainable utilisation of recycled gypsum.

The aim is both to raise environmental awareness and to overcome the so-called "attitude behaviour gap" using gypsum as an example and to improve the sales opportunities for recycled products through suitable communication strategies. In the context of the project, "attitude behaviour gap" means that a fundamental interest in circulating material flows rarely results in concrete action. The environmental benefits of alternatives to natural gypsum products should therefore be communicated in a multi-sensory way and linked to individual impulses for action. The aim is to make the use of recycled gypsum suitable for everyday use and understandable in its many facets.

A key step towards finalising the research work is a scientific experiment that will provide information on the actual demand for recycled plaster from private users. Anyone who takes part will receive free material - only the shipping costs will be charged. The free recycled plaster can be ordered at https://recycling-gips.shop/. Everyone is invited to try out the plaster and thereby support the research project. The recycled plaster is suitable for small DIY repairs and artistic modelling work, for example.

The ambassador of the scientific experiment is "Gipsi" - a yellow-bellied toad, which was not reproduced completely true to life due to the human behaviour-oriented question. From a social marketing perspective, "Gipsi" draws attention to the topics of resource conservation and plaster recycling in a positive way. In fact, the yellow-bellied toad is one of the most endangered species in Germany. It lives in open ponds with little vegetation - in habitats that can occur in former gypsum mining areas.

The AkzeptGips project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research until 30 September 2025. The project is being led by the IPMG (Institute for Public Management and Governance) at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with various project partners.

Two key results have already been achieved to fulfil the project objectives:

The complex approval process for natural gypsum mining was visualised in the form of an interactive timeline. The graphic at der-weg-zum-gips.recycling-gips.shop illustrates that the process consists of a long chain of decisions that are legitimised politically and under public law. Only at the end of this legitimisation chain are companies allowed to mine gypsum. Until then, 25 years can pass. It is also shown at which points in the process citizens can participate.

The second result was the development of a hiking trail concept for a gypsum experience trail, which includes social marketing and renaturalisation measures as well as approaches to digitally support these considerations. A gypsum experience trail offers a low-threshold opportunity to raise people's awareness of the importance of gypsum, environmental protection and gypsum recycling. The hiking trail concept was made available to the company Saint-Gobain Formula, which has planned its own gypsum experience trail in Walkenried and opened it in September 2024.

Since 2019, Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences has taken over the organisational and strategic management of the joint project "Gypsum recycling as an opportunity for the Southern Harz", which is aimed at increasing the potential in the field of gypsum recycling. The largest, high-purity sulphate deposits in Germany are found in the southern Harz Zechstein, which stretches like a narrow band no more than 7 kilometres wide and around 60 kilometres long from Osterode in Lower Saxony to Sangerhausen in Saxony-Anhalt. The alliance of the joint project currently consists of 11 alliance partners and 15 associated partners and stakeholders from society and politics.