Progress toward a circular economy must include not only the responsible and efficient use of energy and natural resources, but also enable the reuse, reduction, repurposing, recycling and recovery of value locked in materials traditionally viewed as waste. The chemical industry initiates solutions to either keep valuable molecules in materials flowing through commerce longer or to enable their chemical recyclability. The chemicals industry is an indispensable actor to deliver the innovation ecosystem of this circular economy and to fulfill the societal demand for transparent information on chemicals in products that are safe for people and the environment.
Achieving this global vision will take time, collaboration and resolve. We are committed to prioritizing innovative material design and designing systems approaches that promote new business models, life-cycle thinking, risk-based policy frameworks, and advanced operational efficiency, materials reuse and resource conservation, in order to maintain the value of resources longer in the economy. We are doing so by taking a life-cycle approach with due consideration of solutions to close the loop at the end-of-life of an article and the energy requirements of such solutions.
Read ICCA’s full position on Circular Economy
