“This model of throwing away plastics will be unsustainable. For any society and economy, we must reverse the one-time production and development model.” A few days ago, the world ’s largest polymer manufacturer Markus Steilemann, CEO of Sitron, said at a circular economy network conference that Covestro hopes to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, especially in the chemical and plastics industries, to achieve the goal of greenhouse gas neutralization. Contribute.

Based on the above vision, Covestro launched a strategic plan in 2019 to implement the concept of circular economy in all areas of the company in a holistic manner. The plan focuses on four major areas: first, to replace fossil raw materials such as petroleum through alternative raw materials; second, through innovative recycling and reuse; third, through renewable energy to enable all factories to achieve the carbon cycle. It is through cooperation and cross-border collaboration to achieve sustainable development.

Xerox Wen mentioned, “All these jobs are not done overnight, but we are ready, and we want to measure all progress through KPIs.”

As far as alternative raw materials are concerned, chemical companies still rely on fossil fuels. “But we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. For example, through biomass and recycled materials, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.” At present, Covestro is trying to use a large amount of biomass in the production of automotive coatings, and through Carbon dioxide capture makes it an important raw material for mattress production.

However, Professor Volker Sick, the head of the Global CO2 Initiative, reminded that at the same meeting, there are still relatively big challenges in eventually achieving substitution in materials , “Because the cost may be relatively high in the replacement process, especially in the early stage, there will be higher costs.” But he believes that Covestro has taken a very solid step, “This is actually not a technical problem, but It ’s actually a cost issue or a supply chain issue. ”

It ’s worth noting that Xerox also emphasized,“ For Covestro, we are not only A high-tech production company, we are also a high-tech recycling company. “

Xeroxen believes that humans often have no way to deal with waste, but the actual Shangshang plastic products can still be introduced into the production cycle as raw materials, “This involves that we mustThere must be progress in recycling technology. “He believes that technology is the” golden key “in this link.” For example, with chemical recycling, we can convert plastic back to the original molecular form, and then apply it to the production of new materials. In this regard Covestro has core technical expertise. ”

At present, Covestro has launched at least 20 scientific research projects on recycling technology.

Xerox The article also mentioned that in terms of recycling, Covestro is currently cooperating with China ’s Nongfu Spring. Prior to January 10, Covestro and Nongfu Spring and polycarbonate recycling company Auxer signed a 19 liter According to this agreement, Nongfu Mountain Spring collects and recycles 19-liter polycarbonate buckets that are no longer in use, and the annual recycling volume is about 1 million. Then it is handed over to plastic recycling company Auxerre Carry out shredding, cleaning and re-granulation. Covestro further processes the processed plastic particles to make high-performance recycled plastics, which are used again in industries such as electrical, electronics, home appliances and automobiles.

When asked about the most important raw materials 20 years later in the meeting, Xerox said, “I think the most important thing may be waste, then biomass, carbon dioxide. But there may be changes, because it is difficult for our industry to bet on one material. ”

In addition to alternative raw materials such as waste, carbon dioxide and biomass, Xerox believes that renewable energy is also important for achieving a truly resource-saving circular economy. As a result, Covestro will gradually switch to renewable energy in production. According to reports, as an important first step, Covestro will use electricity from Danish power supplier Woxu Energy ’s Beihai Wind Farm from 2025. Satisfies a considerable portion of the electricity needs of Covestro’s German factories.

Covestro was formerly known as Bayer Material Technology in Germany, September 2015, Covestro Separated from Bayer to become an independent company and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on October 6 of the same year.

After independence, Covestro ’s business scope is mainly Focus on the production and manufacturing of high-tech polymer materials, as well as the development of innovative solutions for many areas of daily life. The service areas cover the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, electrical and electronic industries, and others include sports and leisure, cosmetics , Medical and chemical industries themselves.

Covestro is currently the world ’s largestOne of the polymer producers, sales in 2019 reached 12.4 billion euros. As of the end of 2019, Covestro has 30 production bases and approximately 17,200 employees worldwide.