When we talk about sustainability and plastics, about 90 percent of the conversation is about packaging. That needs to change.
Take the automotive sector, for example. At the 2024 Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich., a panel took up the topic of sustainability — and plastics were in the spotlight.
John Irwin of Automotive News covered the panel, and he noted that automakers including Toyota are working with suppliers to develop more sustainable products, as both will be under pressure in the coming years to hit environmental and sustainability targets.
"Sustainability is not about sacrifice all the time," Kevin Butt, Toyota Motor North America senior director of environmental sustainability, said during the panel.
The auto supply chain is focused on reducing its carbon footprint, and one plastics-related example came from Canadian supplier Martinrea developing brake lines it supplies to Ford that use graphene and nylon and weigh about 25 percent less than typical brake lines while improving chemical resistance.
Sustainability is becoming more important in health care, too. In our August Sustainable Plastics editorial livestream, Editor Karen Laird noted that recycling of medical plastics is still in the early stages, in part because of concerns about contamination. But she noted that 85 percent of medical plastics are not contaminated.
To date, the medical market isn't facing looming requirements to reuse or recycle its plastics, but change is coming.
Carbon neutrality goals are going to affect the plastics supply chain. Packaging processors and their suppliers are already well aware of how that's going to change their businesses models very soon.
It's coming to automotive, medical and other markets too. Smart companies will take advantage of the opportunity.
Don Loepp is the editor of Plastics News and author of the Plastics Blog.