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Circular Economy of Plastics
Summary
This perspective piece argues that achieving a circular economy for plastics requires replacing fossil feedstocks with recyclates, biomass, and CO2, while redesigning products with end-of-life in mind and pricing carbon emissions across the full lifecycle. The authors contend that the current plastics system must undergo a comprehensive value-chain transformation to achieve climate neutrality and eliminate environmental pollution.
The revolution devours its children" was a common saying during the French Revolution, but the statement might also apply to today's plastics revolution.Plastics have undoubtedly revolutionized our lives since their discovery by Staudinger at ETH Zurich 100 years ago.Unfortunately, this triumph of plastics is increasingly showing its harmful effects through pollution in all areas of the environment.Therefore, we need a fresh start for plastics that addresses potential environmental impacts throughout their life cycle.Less visible than pollution by plastic waste, but just as central, are greenhouse gas emissions: plastics demand has become a primary driver of global petroleum consumption and thus also of the resulting CO 2 emissions.To achieve our climate targets, we therefore need climate-neutral plastics.For this purpose, the following circular raw materials are available: Recyclates, biomass, and CO 2 .Our analyses show that these circular raw materials already allow the climate-neutral production of plastics with today's technologies.However, much remains to be done to make this a reality: in particular, we need more and better recycling on a much larger scale.To realize circular carbon-neutral plastics, the entire value chain must change, and our perspective must expand: the life cycle of plastics does not end at the factory gate.We must critically examine where the use of plastics makes sense-and where it can be avoided.CO 2 emissions must be transparently recorded and priced throughout the life cycle, including potential end-of-life incineration.In particular, product design must already consider the end of life.Plastic waste must ultimately be valued to motivate consumers to collect and sort it.Such a life cycle perspective on plastics could enable an actual "win-win" situation: fossil feedstock is replaced by circular plastics that no longer end up in the environment.To achieve this vision, we must invest consistently in circular instead of fossil feedstock.With this book, leading industry experts set out their plan for a circular economy for plastics.I wish the book a broad readership to take us to the second plastics revolution: towards sustainability.