Circularise and Covestro work together to promote circular economy
Tags: Circulareconomy, Plastic, Transparency, Sustainability, Supply Chain

Circularise and Covestro work together to promote circular economy

Fostering the circular economy through innovation

Recently, shaping the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy became a top priority for organisations in the plastics sector. According to Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann, the plastics industry in particular can and must drive the change to achieve a circular economy. In the first article focused on our partners, Igor Konstantinov spoke to Dr. Burkhard Zimmermann, Head of Resin, Sustainability and Digital Transformation at Covestro Polycarbonates, about how the circular economy can be achieved and the particular challenges that the company decided to tackle.

From using raw materials from sustainable sources such as waste, plants and CO2 to ensuring greater supply chain transparency, Covestro is pushing the boundaries in the circular economy. With a long-term global program to establish circularity throughout all areas of the company, Covestro aims to be a creative force for the entire plastics industry.

In particular, the company aims to “achieve the greatest possible departure from fossil resources such as crude oil”, and intends to develop new technologies exactly for this purpose. According to Dr. Zimmermann, the plastics industry can make a major contribution towards a circular economy.

“Covestro wants to lead by example. We want to move towards circularity to create a positive impact on the environment and society, and to benefit the plastics industry as a whole,” says Dr. Zimmermann.

Supply Chain Transparency in Plastics

In the context of Covestro’s dedication to the circular economy, the company partnered with the supply chain transparency start-up Circularise and nylon specialist Domo Chemicals to create circularity in the plastic industry through blockchain technology. The group aims to set up an open standard for supply chain transparency, in other words a secure exchange of data among value chain partners to enable recycling, reusing and repurposing practices on a mass scale. The trio will use Smart Questioning — technology developed by Circularise, which uses blockchain and zero-knowledge proof — to create an open protocol for a trusted data exchange without public disclosure of datasets or supply chain partners.

Depending on the position of parties in the value chain, there are different benefits that users can expect. “For material suppliers and processors, as well as molders, Circularise PLASTICS’ participation means increased material value and trust in your production, by adding material passports to plastic resins, additives, colorants and any other materials produced. For OEMs and brand owners, it helps on the road to achieving sustainability targets and a strengthened brand position, by revealing a product’s origin and transparency on its environmental impact,” says Dr. Zimmermann.

This solution offers two basic main advantages over other initiatives. The open nature of the solution forms the foundation for it to become an industry standard. The Smart Questioning technology safeguards privacy while still allowing for transparency.

The Big Question — Decarbonisation

Apart from supply chain transparency goals, Covestro has taken a first step in establishing a company-wide strategic program for the circular economy. The company has recently started using alternative raw materials instead of crude oil to move the important element carbon virtually in a circle. The greatest potential for closing cycles, however, is likely to lie in the recycling of plastic waste. In order to be able to make greater use of it than before, waste disposal systems must be considerably improved and redesigned. Covestro wants to contribute to this above all by developing new recycling technologies.

“As chemical recycling will still take some time to come to scale one near-term focus are mechanically recycled products, where the access to sorted waste plastics is a critical success factor. Thus we need to develop technologies that enable recyclers and waste collectors to identify and sort not only PET bottles but high value engineering plastics like polycarbonate. Here closed loop approaches with customers and consumers have been piloted successfully but a broader basis for sorted waste streams is urgently needed” says Dr. Zimmermann.

On top of this, Covestro intends “to increasingly design plastics and their applications from the outset so that they can be effectively recycled,” while maintaining properties to last as long as possible and avoid waste.

Plastics as a solution

According to Covestro’s CEO Steilemann “Plastic in itself is not the problem and should not be prohibited. On the contrary, high-quality plastics are a problem solver and are urgently needed — for renewable energies, new forms of mobility and sustainable construction, for instance.” [FR1] Society, but also industry, must produce less waste. Above all, waste has to be disposed of systematically and must no longer end up uncontrolled in the environment. In order to stop the flow of plastic waste into our environment, Covestro wants to cooperate with as many players as possible in all areas of the value chain. Since 2019, Covestro is involved in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a worldwide company network whose name speaks for itself. Covestro is also working with numerous other businesses and organizations in the new Circular Plastics Alliance to promote the recycling of plastics in Europe.

Overall, the company wants to drive change from a linear economy to a circular economy with as many partners as possible and “expects this to open up entirely new business opportunities.”