The world of industrial chemistry is undergoing its biggest transformation in half a century. Where once production volumes and the price of oil were the deciding factors, technology, recycling and environmental pressures are now coming into play. Investors are watching as the traditional sector adapts to the new rules, where sustainability is no longer a fringe issue and is becoming a key driver of value. While the change seems slow, its effects will be long-lasting - and the first chapters of a new industrial cycle are now beginning to be written.

Against the backdrop of these shifts, a project is emerging that may provide a glimpse of what the future of materials manufacturing will look like. At the heart of it is not capacity expansion or cost cutting, but a drive to reshape the very nature of chemistry. The new concept of production is based on the idea that even waste can be turned into a resource, and that plastics need not be synonymous with environmental burdens but part of a…