Start the Journey
Plastics are an integral part of modern life.
They’re in the mattresses we sleep on and many of the chairs we sit on. We wear them in sports apparel. We use them in our digital devices.
They help insulate our houses from the cold.
And they have thousands of medical uses that help save lives every single day.
But plastics come with big challenges.
They are mainly derived from oil, a limited natural resource.
Far too many of them still end up in landfills and there’s the challenge of plastic waste in the environment.
The ultimate goal is a circular economy – one in which resources are protected, plastic waste is minimized and the benefits of plastics are recognized.
To get there, innovation will be crucial – new ways of thinking, new ways of doing.
So join us to discover how we are innovating with our partner organizations to improve how plastics are made, used and recycled in ways that bring us ever closer to that goal of circularity.
Make
How plastics are made really matters – from product design to the choice of raw materials to the manufacturing process itself.
We’re helping companies to think more about the entire ‘life cycle’ of a product – not just how it’s disposed of. We’re developing high-quality, high-performance plastics and additives that extend the life of products.
From 2025, we will be using 250,000 metric tons of recycled and waste-based raw materials in our production plants, replacing fossil resources and making manufacturing more efficient.
And we are aiming for CO₂ neutral production of our products, including plastics, by 2050.
Use
Changing how we use and reuse plastics can mean using them less. But it can also mean using them better.
Plastics have become one of the most discussed concerns in the world today.
And the global community is being more thoughtful than ever before about how and why plastics are used.
What remains to be done is to find new ways to manage the challenges around the use and reuse of plastics, without ignoring their benefits for climate protection and for society.
It’s about considering what we really need and changing our habits accordingly.
Recycle
The big issue around plastics is what happens to them at ‘end of life’
Plastics definitely have a place, but it shouldn’t be in our natural environment.
That’s where many of our innovations come in.
While we can’t recycle all plastics yet, some can be re-used in the making of new plastics.
We’re innovating to make plastic sorting plants more effective, so more plastics can be recycled.
Plastic clean-up initiatives are now happening worldwide. And a game-changer technology is compostable plastics.