Guest Ed i to rial Is Sustainability in Your Future?

f you haven‘t heard, there is a new challenge being placed before the chemical in- I dustry. It is that we must be a sustainable industry. This idea has been evolving over the last several years and is increasing in momentum. However, for those of us in the plastics additives business, it is coming very fast: it is actually upon us. This challenge was described very clearly by Jean P. De Greve, head of ECVM, during his presentation at our Vinyl Global Market Forum at ANTEC in May, when he re- viewed the situation for vinyl in Europe. The Commission of the European Union. after initiating its horizontal initiative on PVC several years ago, will soon issue its final position. It is clear that the Commission’s assessment of PVC will include some very specific demands and exyectations for the PVC industry. It will also in- clude comments and questions about the additives used. In addition, there will be new regulatory requirements in the EU that will eventually come forth through the recently proposed Chemicals White Paper and will include as well, in all of this, the adoption of the Integrated Product Policy, which emphasizes environmental perfor- mance criteria to be applied during product design. Altogether, this puts in place a comprehensive set of requirements and guidelines that focus on driving the chemi- cal industry toward sustainability.

Sustainability, in its simplest terms, means that the manufacture, use, and dis- posal of a chemical do not harm the environment for ourselves or for future genera- tions. It challenges the industry to reduce the use of energy, water, and non renew- able resources in manufacturing: to minimize the use of resources and generation of wastes during product use; and to recycle as much as possible. These are laudable goals, and the chemical industry under ACC is already redesigning its Responsible Care program to encompass sustainability. But the PVC industry is already moving forward rapidly in this area. As Mr. De Greve described in his talk, the Voluntary Commitment that the PVC industry put forth in response to the EU Horizontal Initiative comprises many programs designed. in part, to drive PVC toward sustain- ability. In their annual report, ECVM comments on the progress that they have made on all fronts of this commitment. In this regard, the PVC industry in Europe has accepted the challenge of achieving sustainability and is responding very ag- gressively.

But what about the additives industry? Innovative developments in additives continue to be a major factor driving the performance and uses of PVC and many other polymers. Improvements based on additives include, among others, better physical properties, enhanced flame retardancy, and greater processing speed and latitude. All are enabling plastics to reach into new markets. But these additives, especially those used for PVC, are a major target of the environmental groups, who claim that these materials present severe challenges to the environment and are not sustainable. While some of their claims, and perhaps their motives, are clearly suspect, this early challenge to us to evaluate our sustainability is something we should respect and even welcome.

Sustainability, when done properly, has proved to deliver both environmental and economic value. Thus the reason behind the Dow Jones Sustainability index. By answering this challenge early, the plastics industry and the additives industry can come out as winners. As additive technologists, this challenge provides us with new opportunities for product development. Not only can we deliver value by improving the sustainability of the additives we make today, but also we have the chance to develop a new spectrum of products designed to improve the overall sustainability of the plastics industry. It is pretty clear that this is a difficult challenge and that answers will not be generated overnight but it is imperative that we start now. We will need to allow the concepts and ideas to gestate for a while as we come to grips

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Is Sustainability in Your Future?

with this whole new area. We must be patient while technical forays scope out the options that might work in this uncharted territory. And we will need to maintain our commitment and focus during the development time required. If we can suc- ceed at this effort, we will have an industry that is more robust than anyone would have anticipated. So I encourage those of you in the additives technolo@ communi- ty to place sustainability high on your list of key product deliverables and to get our industry moving in this direction. And, when you get that breakthrough. don’t for- get to publish the result in JVAT.

Richard W. Johnson Chair, SPE Vinyl Division

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