BioBased Circular - Materials Cycle

The most critical component in the chemical manufacturing industry is carbon compounds, which are still primarily derived from petroleum—a substance that is essentially the remnants of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, slowly decomposed deep underground into a mixture of carbon compounds.

Once these materials are used, they end up in waste incinerators, where the carbon compounds are broken down to CO₂. This process returns carbon to its most basic building block, CO₂, which is also one of the main greenhouse gases. This essentially closes a cycle: the CO₂ absorbed by plants millions of years ago eventually returns to the atmosphere. However, the issue arises because we are releasing massive amounts of CO₂ in a short time—carbon that has been stored over millions of years. This imbalance is driving climate change.

At its core, the solution is surprisingly simple: leave the carbon compounds that are buried deep within the Earth's crust where they are. Instead, we should source our carbon compounds from plants (crops, as well as by-products from sectors like agrifood and forestry), which naturally convert CO₂ into other carbon compounds. This cycle also releases CO₂ back into the atmosphere when materials are burned, but with one crucial difference: this natural cycle remains balanced. The CO₂ emitted is immediately reabsorbed by plant growth, meaning no additional CO₂ is released during the production of plastics, thus helping the chemical manufacturing industry avoid contributing to climate change.

By designing materials for optimal recyclability, we can even store CO₂ from the atmosphere in materials, making the chemical manufacturing industry not only climate-neutral but a contributor to reducing the current CO₂ surplus in the atmosphere.