Sustainable Materials for a Circular Economy

All industrial sectors face the challenge to transition into a Net Zero world, that

achieves climate neutrality in 2050, as laid out, for example, in the EU Green Deal. Polymers play a crucial role in enabling sustainable applications and emission reduction. As structural materials: by weight saving in transportation, in composites for wind turbine blades, or for insulation of buildings. As functional materials: replacing solvent-based formulations by water-based ones, or helping save energy by enabling cold-water laundry in your washing machine.

Being carbon-based organic compounds, polymeric materials themselves need further innovation: A sustainable circular economy for polymeric materials will decouple their economic value from emissions and resource consumption. Feedstocks will increasingly be based on recycled or biobased carbon sources. At end of life, polymers need to be collected and recycled, or should be biodegradable if they are dispersed in the application. This is an exciting field for research and development, and will pave the way to achieving comprehensive sustainability.