Billions of reasons for phasing out toxic chemicals from products and material flows

The phase-out of substances of concern from new materials would entail billions of Euros in business opportunities. We need to recycle more, but have to consider chemical safety alongside increased recycling rates. And the presence of hazardous chemicals in recycled materials prevents the upscaling of circular economy.

These are some of the key findings in our steaming fresh report “What goes around”, addressing the importance of a circular economy free from substances of concern.

The need to move away from the decades old, predominant linear mindset of “take, make, waste” towards a more circular one of “reuse, reduce, recycle” is something most of us can agree on. But when discussing and working towards a circular economy, there is one aspect that keeps getting surprisingly overlooked: The presence of hazardous chemicals.

Financial gains of a non-toxic circular economy

At ChemSec, we decided to pay this neglected issue an abundance of attention and now launch the extensive report “What goes around” on the chemical aspect of circular economy – the missing piece, if you will.

The financial chapter is particularly interesting, since an analysis of the market opportunities of a circular economy without problematic chemicals has never been done before.

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