Around the world, people, companies and governments are demonstrating their belief in the importance of reducing unnecessary plastic packaging and waste.
More stringent regulations, combined with increasing consumer awareness, have accelerated the drive for innovation.
China has committed to reducing plastic waste by 2025, for example by cutting the use of disposable plastic tableware in cities by 30%. (2) The US and Australia are also thinking of similar policies in support of a circular economy.
Some are prioritising advanced lightweight polymers to reduce the weight of cars for greater energy efficiency, or high-performance polymers for food packaging, or advanced additives for recyclable pellets. Others are committing to sustainable packaging in an effort to reach zero waste and carbon-neutral operations. (6)
Trend Spotlights
Our sustainability experts identified the four global trends impacting the advanced materials industries. Scroll to read them all or click to jump to what's most interesting to you.
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What challenges do customers and suppliers face
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Mechanical Recycling
Currently, mechnical recycling is the most common approach within the advanced materials industry. It is ideal for recycling mass quantities of plastic.
Why? Because even though the chemical structure of the materials degrade slightly when reworked, we can upgrade it again with antioxidants and other additives to increase the quality.
Chemical Recycling
Chemical recycling is a new approach that is rapidly growing in popularity as a complementary technology that can help to divert certain plastic waste from landfills.
With chemical recycling, plastic debris is sorted and separated for chemical processing. The chemical structure of waste is transformed, converting it into shorter molecules that are used for new reactions.
Energy Recovery
Some plastic-rich waste materials cannot be recycled in a way that is eco-efficient. In such cases, energy recycling is the most resource-efficient solution.
This process takes place in modern combined heat and power recovery plants (CHP Plants), where waste plastics and other highly calorific materials are used to generate heat and power.
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What challenges do customers and suppliers face
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Where should businesses start when it comes to producing reusable products?
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Reusability ensures that the quality of a product is maintained even while additives are brought into a formulation to extend its lifetime.
Full trend report
Want to learn more about reusability trends? Access the full trend report PDF.
Innovation in reusable materials is accelerating.
Such materials also have the highly desirable benefit of removing BPA (bisphenol A – a synthetic organic compound) from the formulation, which may be added when other processing techniques are used.
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When we move away from materials that take millions of years to develop (like petroleum polymers) and embrace bio-based materials that only take a few years to develop (like corn) we open the doors wide for sustainable innovation.
Over time, more and more new bio-based sources and methods are being discovered that can be used as an alternative to petroleum-based polymers.
Bio-based technologies and approaches could be seen as the next great leap towards a circular economy.
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For those just starting out on their bio-based journey, where do you recommend that they begin?
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INCREASING BIO-CONTENT
Many companies now offer products that feature
a combination of polymers, and bio-based content keeps taking a greater share of the mix.
For example, today we might see a product
developed with 50% bio-based content plus
50% petroleum polymers, supported by a package
of relevant additives.
In the future, however,
the proportion of bio-based content is set to
jump even higher.
LABELING & CERTIFYING
Labelling companies such as TÜV and DIN are paving the way for a more circular economy by determining
which category a product belongs to depending on
its specific polymer blend and the intended use of
the application.
This ensures that a product is properly categorised depending on the end-user experience it provides, thereby preventing confusion and streamlining the end-of-life product journey.
IMCD India
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What do you recommend for companies that have started their journey but still have further to go?
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The challenge is understanding what end-users are looking for, while also communicating how a product should be used and disposed of.
For example, manufacturers may already have decided that their product should be considered biodegradable. However, in order to give end-users what they are looking for, manufacturers need to be careful that the overall creation process doesn’t work out as being less sustainable than it was in the first place.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and in order to be truly successful, the challenge must be addressed holistically.
But in order to reach a truly sustainable future, we also need to deal with the problem of waste, optimise product production, make processes more efficient, and much more.
Sustainability Coordinator |
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What’s next to come in the CO2 reduction conversation?
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Ideally, this is an iterative process, with continuous experimentation and improvement, driven by innovation. Not to mention, great design is impossible without attention to process, taking care to ensure as little energy usage as possible during various production stages. And this process doesn’t end when a product is shipped.
End of life enhancement is the final piece of the puzzle, which requires paying attention to detail during production to extend a product’s life and ensure that it lasts longer.
Smart design is all about using fewer materials to increase efficiency during the recycling process.
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What’s next to come in the CO2 reduction
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Ready to dive into the sustainable future of advanced materials?
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