On 9 October 2025, the third dialogue in the KNUW plastics dialogue series took place at the K trade fair, the world’s largest plastics trade fair, as an interactive tour under the motto ‘Environmental economy meets plastics’.Together with representatives from industry, science and the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Environment, we took a look at the future of a sustainable plastics industry and the contribution that the environmental economy can make to this transformation process.

At Plastics Europe, participants were given a comprehensive overview of the potential applications of plastics and the current challenges facing the industry.. It became clear that plastics play a central role in numerous future fields, but at the same time innovations and new approaches must be developed to reduce resource consumption and environmental impact.

The BASF stand focused on the life cycle of plastics. Under the guiding principle of ‘Make – Use – Recycle’, participants were shown how circular economy can be implemented in practice. The focus was on both technological solutions and responsibility along the entire value chain.

The topic was then explored in greater depth at the Fraunhofer Institute, where questions relating to more efficient recycling and bio-based alternatives were discussed. compared to conventional plastics. This demonstrated how research and innovation can make a decisive contribution to advancing sustainable materials and processes.

The visit concluded with a tour of R-Cycle, a cross-company project that is developing a digital product passport for plastic packaging. This technology enables transparent tracking throughout the entire life cycle and opens up new perspectives for data-based, circular economy.

The tour impressively demonstrated that the environmental sector and the plastics industry must work together to find solutions that balance sustainability, innovation and competitiveness.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the speakers from the companies and to our guests for their participation and inspiring exchange. We were delighted to welcome international guests from a delegation from Malaysia to our tour. Special thanks also go to our doctoral scholarship holder and speaker Daniel Ohl for the successful organisation.