Career
Maja Wiprächtiger studied environmental engineering at ETH Zurich. For her Master's thesis on phosphorus recycling, she took a detour to UC Berkeley (USA) before returning to ETH for her doctorate. She wrote her dissertation on the topic of "Ecological assessment of circular economy strategies". She has been a project manager at realcycle since January 2023. She also teaches part of the Master's course "Waste Management and Circular Economy" at ETH Zurich.
Most important publications
Kulakovskaya, A., Wiprächtiger, M., Knoeri, C., & Bening, C. R. (2023). Integrated environmental-economic circular economy assessment: Application to the case of expanded polystyrene. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 197, 107069. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2023.107069)
Wiprächtiger, M., Haupt, M., Froemelt, A., Klotz, M., Beretta, C., Osterwalder, D., Burg, V., & Hellweg, S. (2023). Combining industrial ecology tools to assess potential greenhouse gas reductions of a circular economy: Method development and application to Switzerland. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 27(1), 254-271. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13364
Wiprächtiger, M., Haupt, M., Heeren, N., Waser, E., & Hellweg, S. (2020). A framework for sustainable and circular system design: Development and application on thermal insulation materials. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 154, 104631. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2019.104631
Wiprächtiger, M., Haupt, M., Rapp, M., & Hellweg, S. (2021). Waste not, want not - ambiguities around waste and waste prevention. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 173, 105742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105742
Wiprächtiger, M., & Hellweg, S. (2024). Circularity assessment in a chemical company. Evaluation of mass-based vs. impact-based circularity. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 204, 107458. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.RESCONREC.2024.107458
Wiprächtiger, M., Rapp, M., Hellweg, S., Shinde, R., & Haupt, M. (2022). Turning trash into treasure: An approach to the environmental assessment of waste prevention and its application to clothing and furniture in Switzerland. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/JIEC.13275
Core competencies
- Training courses and workshops
- Circular economy strategies
- Waste management
- Stakeholder management
- Material flow analysis (MFA)
- Life cycle assessments (LCA)
- Modeling and scenario development