Sustainable production of plastics only possible through industry transformation
The proportion of plastic made from fossil raw materials is still far too high; at the same time, global demand for plastic continues to rise
The plastics trade show in Düsseldorf, which has just come to an end, showed how much the industry is changing. Climate-friendly raw materials and a sustainable circular economy are becoming more important. But the industry is not yet where it could be.
"The share of plastics made from fossil raw materials is still far too high," says Florian Huber, partner at EY-Parthenon. In 2021, 390.7 million tons of plastic were produced worldwide, of which 352.3 million tons came from fossil raw materials, 32.5 million tons from recycled plastic and 5.9 million tons from bio-based plastics.
Environmental protection through the circular economy
The pressure to transform in the plastics and plastics industry has been increasing in recent years. "The focus here is clearly on implemented sustainability, and corresponding measures are also supported and promoted by the legislator," explains Florian Huber. In this context, the circular economy is one of the strongest levers against climate change. The EU already provides clear rules and targets recycling shares beyond 50 percent. "Companies should go to the technically feasible limit in order to conserve sustainable resources and respond to the permanently increasing demand for plastics. That means 90 to 95 percent of plastics should be recyclable," says Florian Huber. "For this, however, companies must convert their productions to a circular economy."
Innovations as an additional driver
With a functioning circular economy, the plastics industry could achieve a lot in terms of sustainability. The other important lever: innovations. "Producing companies are currently faced with the challenge of meeting the growing demand for plastics in the most resource-efficient way possible," says Huber. Renewable raw materials, such as sugar cane, or synthetic plastics are a key success factor for the German plastics industry. "However, it is also clear that as long as there are no uniform global rules, border adjustment mechanisms such as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) should support competitiveness," the EY-Parthenon expert holds. The show clearly demonstrates where the industry is currently heading and the steps companies need to take if they want to remain competitive. "Companies will only manage the transition to a sustainable circular economy and the implementation of innovations if they transform themselves from the ground up," says Huber.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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