The Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy was established in September 1995 by the joint initiative of the Chair of Waste Management and the Chair of Groundwater and Soil Remediation.

The institute represents a branch of the Technische Universität Dresden as being located on the picturesque Elbe River banks in Pirna-Copitz (about 25 km SE of Dresden). On the site in Pirna the institute consists of modern laboratories, lecture rooms and large spatial capacities for research activities.

Since the activities of the two chairs have been united, a broader spectrum of environmental aspects can be covered. This is reflected in multidisciplinary approaches from natural sciences, engineering and economics of waste management and remediation of contaminated sites. Especially the interdisciplinarity of our research topics plays a major role in the specialized education of our students.

The name of the Institute was until 2015 “Institute for Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment”.