Plastic. Climate. Future.

Flame retardants rarely get much attention. Yet they play an important role in enabling the plastics used across electronics, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, buildings and many other high-tech applications.
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Adrian Beard from Clariant to explore the science behind flame retardants and the challenge of combining fire safety, material performance and sustainability.
We discuss:
How flame retardants help make polymers suitable for demanding high-tech applications
Why electrification, batteries and renewable energy technologies are creating new material safety challenges
Why developing a new flame retardant can take five to ten years from the initial idea to commercial scale
How fire safety and circularity can be reconciled, and why durability and recyclability sometimes create difficult trade-offs
How sustainability and regulation are changing the way new chemistries are developed
Why even more sustainable solutions still need a viable business case and market acceptance
It’s a fascinating reminder that some of the technologies enabling innovation are almost invisible in the final product. We may never see the chemistry, but without it, many of the materials and technologies we rely on would not perform as safely as they do.
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Our series with Plastics Europe Germany takes on another key question for the future of plastics: What happens when conventional recycling isn't enough?

In this episode, we sit down with Marcel Beermann, CEO of ARCUS GreencyclingTechnologies, to explore the role chemical recycling can play in tackling mixed and difficult-to-recycle plastic waste — and what it takes to turn these waste streams back into valuable resources.

We discuss:
Why mechanical and chemical recycling can complement each other, rather than compete
How mixed plastic waste can be converted into pyrolysis oil and used again as feedstock for new plastics
What it takes to scale chemical recycling from technology to industrial reality
Why regulation and market demand will be critical to creating a viable circular economy
How making better use of our own plastic waste can strengthen Europe’s resource resilience and industrial competitiveness
One thing becomes clear: Europe already has a significant resource in its plastic waste. The question is how we make better use of it.

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The energy transition isn’t only about generating renewable energy. It’s also about how we transport and distribute that energy — and the materials that make this infrastructure possible.
In this episode, we sit down with Dr.Matthias Pursch from Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics to explore the often invisible role advanced materials play in the infrastructure around us.
We discuss:
How material innovation is enabling high-voltage and HVDC cableshigh-voltage power cables, including HVDC systems, to transport electricity over long distances
Why these technologies are increasingly important as we connect renewable energy generation to the grid
How advanced materials are helping improve district heating infrastructure
The role of recycled and bio-based feedstocksThe role of post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials and bio-circular feedstocks, and the challenge of combining circularity with demanding technical performance
Why collaboration across the value chain is essential to bring new solutions into real-world infrastructure
Many of these materials remain almost invisible in our everyday lives — yet they play an essential role in making our energy systems more efficient, durable and ready for the future.
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New episode of our series with Plastics Europe Deutschland, exploring “What HighTech is made of – Plastics as the Enablers of German Innovation Goals,” is live.
Episode 2: Rethinking How We Innovate Materials
How do we turn promising material ideas into solutions that actually work at industrial scale — and can we do it faster?
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jürgen Stebani, founder and CEO of Polymaterials, to explore how material innovation itself is changing.
We discuss:
How to accelerate material development and move from ideas to industrial solutions faster
How to bridge the gap between startups, research and established industry
How AI, digitalization and data are changing the way new compounds and materials are developed
What Germany needs to remain competitive as a location for material innovation
Why speed, experimentation and a willingness to take risks matter for the next generation of materials
Because ultimately, innovation isn’t only about discovering new materials. It’s also about rethinking how we develop them and bring them into industry.
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Germany’s future technologies share one common denominator: plastics. In our series with Plastics Europe Deutschland, we talk to the people turning that into solutions — from material volume to material competence, the core idea behind The Plastic Shift.
For our first company conversation, we sit down with Daniel Koch from LyondellBasell to look at what circularity means when it moves beyond the lab and into industrial reality.
At LyondellBasell’s Wesseling site, the company is building its first industrial-scale MoReTec plant, designed to turn difficult-to-recycle mixed plastic waste into feedstock for new polymers.
We talk about what it really takes to bring circularity to industrial scale — from transforming existing production sites and integrating new technologies into established operations, to creating the conditions that allow these investments to succeed. And we explore why the transition will depend not only on new technology, but also on infrastructure, expertise, regulation and demand.
As Daniel puts it:
“Circularity is not really only a technology question.”
And perhaps that is the bigger story: transforming the plastics industry doesn’t necessarily mean starting again from scratch. It can also mean using the infrastructure, expertise and people we already have to build something new.
This is the first episode in our new mini-series exploring the innovative spirit of Germany’s plastics and polymer industry — and the people turning transformation into industrial reality.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!