Nature has been using the construction principle of plastics for billions of years. Without it, life on Earth would be unthinkable. For almost two centuries, humans have also been making use of it in a variety of ways. Much of what we consider indispensable today would not be possible without it. Even the global challenges we face can only be overcome by using plastics. This applies to the supply of water and food, protection against disease, and the preservation of mobility and quality of life. It applies even more so to the mitigation of existential risks such as climate change and environmental destruction with all their consequences.
Nevertheless, plastics are often viewed critically. Because it is also true that our decades of careless use of plastics have had a negative impact on people and the environment. We cannot continue as before. The raw material base, material design, recycling paths, and sustainability must be optimized for all plastic applications. However, it is not only conventional plastics that must be validated against this yardstick, but also the much-touted plastics made from renewable raw materials and biodegradable polymers.
Optimizing the material base requires a great deal of expertise. This is not always available, especially in small and medium-sized companies. If you still want your products to meet today’s requirements, we will be happy to support you with advice and assistance until successful implementation.
Choosing the “right” plastic for an application in every respect is a major challenge. On the one hand, there are high expectations of the material, ranging from processing behavior and performance characteristics to durability and reliability. These criteria are often at odds with environmental protection considerations:
Many plastics are damaged during their useful life, meaning that they cannot be recycled in a way that preserves their value. However, they remain extremely durable and difficult to break down. As a result, they survive for centuries in ecosystems. Stricter chemical legislation continues to ban more and more components of established plastic formulations. Replacing them is extremely challenging due to a variety of interactions and consequences.
In conjunction with strategic requirements such as ensuring availability, targets such as closed material cycles or the use of renewable raw materials are emerging. In addition to technical hurdles, however, the latter in particular pose new risks and still require considerable effort in research and development. Finally, the costs should not be underestimated: without a competitive price, even the most environmentally friendly plastic will not prevail on the market.
