Circular Economy for plastics

An essential requirement for the development of a circular economy is a fundamental rethinking in practice. The change to a circular economy for plastics will only succeed if not only individual technical solutions, but the whole »system« is aimed to the production and use of high-value recyclates.

The new VDI Green Paper on »Rethinking the Circular Economy for Plastics« was developed in an iterative process with members of the VDI Round Table and takes a multi-stakeholder perspective. Four concrete fields of action were identified and their technical, economic and ecological opportunities and challenges outlined. The four fields of action cover the areas of

1. (Re)organising the plastics industry for a circular economy,
2. Making closing the loop the task of all stakeholders,
3. Creating regulatory incentives for a circular plastics economy, 
4. Designing products for a circular economy.

Whereby the focus is always on the circularization of plastics through the use of recyclates.

Source: VDI (Hrsg.) 2021: Rethinking the Circular Economy for plastics – How the transformation to circular value creation can succeed. Green Paper of the VDI Round. Table Results and recommendations of the VDI Round Table.