Chemical recycling is a golden opportunity to meet the future demand of recycled materials. It also provides ample opportunity for making a lot of money. This combination makes it tempting for companies to take shortcuts in order to satisfy the market, often resulting in values like sustainability and transparency being thrown out the window.
We believe that recycling, including chemical recycling, is necessary for the further development of a viable circular economy. However, the chemical recycling technologies employed must support circularity – not only in theory, but also in practice.
The circular economy forces us to focus on the hazardous properties of chemicals. To neglect this and instead talk about the risk of exposure is close to absurd. Surprisingly, some parts of the chemical industry still do this. It’s time for a change of mind.
The Chemicals Strategy gives clear direction on how the transition towards safe and sustainable chemicals should be achieved. Many European companies are already well on their way towards sustainability, fully in line with the Commission’s Chemicals Strategy. A fully realised and implemented Chemicals Strategy will greatly support their work and ambitions for this ongoing transition.
Avoiding substances of concern is the very first step when implementing a safe and sustainable by design process, and chemical safety is a key criterion for sustainable products, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA). This is most welcome validation of facts that we at ChemSec have known and talked about for a long time.
H&M Group outlines its position on chemicals and circular economy.
To address the challenge around lack of knowledge about the chemical content in collected recyclable textiles, H&M Group and IKEA decided to collaborate in a large test study.
ChemSec webinar, March 16, 2021
