ELEMENTS Interview | Sustainable plastics - is that possible?

High performance plastics have become an integral part of everyday life. They play a crucial role in many products. They often make them particularly light, particularly durable or particularly robust. But how sustainable is the material and what is important when it comes to recycling? Elements editor Bend Kaltwasser spoke about this with Dr. Ralf Düssel, Head of Sustainability at Evonik.

Mr. Düssel, let's be honest. How sustainable are plastics really?

Plastic is an important material for a wide range of applications. And only with plastics which we need, we will be able to solve the problems of our future. We will use it to create our transformation. If you look around you, there's plastic everywhere. No wind turbine turns without plastics and also mobility: no train runs without plastics. Plastics has some great properties. It is lighter, easier to process, more robust and more durable in many applications.

Nevertheless, plastics are repeatedly criticised, especially from a sustainability perspective. Wouldn't it help to simply replace the material?

Well, in general replacing any material or plastic with any other material is not necessarily good for the environment. Because plastic is often the material that produces the least CO2. First, during processing, then in its lifetime. And that's why we need plastic. And I totally share your concern - and that is what is often discussed in public - the correct handling of plastic. You cannot just throw it away. We don't want it in the sea. That's not where it belongs. We need proper disposal strategies. We need to question short lived disposal products. And we need, in particular, prevent illegal plastic disposal.

So you say that the right approach is crucial. But what does that mean in concrete terms for the chemical industry?

Plastic waste is a recyclable resource. So we as an industry, we have to counteract the issue of let's say improper use of plastic. We have to design our products so that they are durable and use as little material as possible regardless of the material including plastics. We have to design our products so that they are reusable, repairable and recyclable. And that's why it's all a great opportunity for us. Because plastic also enables circular economy.