Paving the way to climate neutrality through circular design

Start at the beginning: Consider more sustainable materials at the outset of your product design

Covestro believes that a circular economy will be key to helping the world become climate neutral. We are doing our part, enhancing the sustainability of our material solutions by using alternative raw materials, renewable energy and innovative recycling for end-of-life. We’re also engaging in innovative cross-industry collaborations to push our sustainability goals to the next level.

Circular material choices inspire CMF designers

Our CMF-color, material and finish-design strategies for recycled and recyclable plastics and for materials based partially on renewable raw materials can inspire CMF designers while also boosting the perceived value of products. At Covestro, circular design follows these underlying principles:

1. Circular material choices: We’re developing more sustainable materials and keeping them in the value chain for as long as possible. 
2. Modular design: Using fewer parts and mono-material design translates into more efficient use of resources.
3. Dematerialization: Using as little of a material as possible offers the additional benefit of reducing energy use. 
4. Material as a service: Giving a second life to a product for greater life-cycle sustainability. 
5. Product life extension: Maintaining a product’s useful life via sustainable design for as long as possible.

Here are a few examples to get your sustainable creative juices design ideas flowing!

Desmopan® CQ: Our latest offering for the circular economy

This TPU material is flexible, durable, versatile from hard and stiff - to soft and elastic which makes it an excellent choice for a mono material design. And there is more: Desmopan® CQ can also be more sustainable - in fact, it is one of our more sustainable materials to reduce the carbon footprint of your products - without compromising quality or performance. Looking for inspiration? Check out our Circular Tarp project with FREITAG to learn how we’re designing for circularity as we are replacing PVC with TPU to increase recyclability while also promoting material as a service. 

Arfinio®: Freedom to form any vision

Arfinio® is a super lightweight yet durable material that makes it possible to create truly seamless highly customized and complex shapes that can easily be upscaled. Oh, and did we mention its colors and gloss levels can be tailored? If you are looking for next-generation design freedom, outstanding performance and a strong focus on sustainability, Arfinio® is our material that is truly engineered for the impossible!

Makrolon® RE polycarbonate reduces the carbon footprint of your product design

Designers have relied on our Makrolon® polycarbonate due to its impact resistance, robustness, glass-like transparency and its lightweight for decades. Now, we are offering a more sustainable RE product series with renewable attributed share within our polycarbonate material portfolio. Our Makrolon® RE does not originate from fossil resources but take renewable raw materials and energy into account in the manufacturing process. It’s a more sustainable polycarbonate with attributed renewable raw materials via mass balance, that can help support your sustainability goals. The circular and more sustainable RE product series is part of the CQ portfolio of circular intelligent solutions from Covestro, which contribute to our vision to be fully circular becoming reality: Transforming the industry to achieve climate neutrality.

Mono-material design facilitates the recycling process of your product’s end of life

In a circular economy, recycling is a basic fact of life. Mono-material designs combined with modular design make it easier for manufacturers to recycle products at the end of their useful life and giving the material a second life at the end of their first cycle. Where to begin? Discover our aesthetic, functional and more sustainable plastics within our CMF aesthetic design toolkits, that put CMF expertise at your fingertips! 

Connect with us today and we will help your products materialize in a more sustainable way

We have the experience, expertise and capabilities to partner with CMF designers right from the start and help design products that wow-balancing visual beauty and functional performance with sustainable design—to surprise and delight consumers around the globe. We invite you to discover all the ways we can collaborate to produce designs that dazzle as part of a brighter, more sustainable future.