Rethinking Materials Summit: Avantium CEO demands “entire materials transition” for solving climate emergency

17 May 2023 --- Rethinking Materials Innovation and Investment Summit delegates are currently meeting and collaborating in London, UK, to discuss the scaling of materials innovation for decarbonization and a circular economy. While the conference is ongoing, we sit down with Tom van Aken, CEO at Avantium, to hear about the summit’s progress and Avantium’s role in closing the loop.

Van Aken stresses that the costs of climate change effects will be much graver than the costs of investing in bringing environmentally sustainable technologies to fruition. He urges the industry to use these innovations to address tomorrow’s climate problems.

What are you hoping to learn from the Rethinking Materials Summit?
Van Aken: I am looking forward to hearing from industry peers and discussing how we can work together – from innovators to brands – to achieve our shared goal of transitioning away from fossil-based materials and adopting bio-based sustainable alternatives. The conversation has switched and people are open to engaging with businesses like Avantium to help make climate positive changes to their products. 

The delegates’ shared goal is to move away from fossil-based materials and adopt bio-based alternatives.If businesses are ready to switch from fossil feedstock-based materials to a circular solution, it can be daunting to know where to start. Events such as the Rethinking Materials Summit are a great place to learn and engage and understand that we are not alone in this. This movement will only be successful if we work together to share knowledge and best practice.

What are the challenges for the packaging industry to move away from virgin materials?
Van Aken: In today’s world, plastic has a bad reputation, despite its major benefits to society. This is caused by the massive CO2 footprint and plastic pollution that is visible everywhere around the world. We need to adopt circularity and decouple from fossil resources, just one isn’t good enough.  

The main challenge is encouraging a shift in mindset and practice, understanding that we can’t recycle our way out of the problem. We need to embrace an entire materials transition to address the climate emergency. 

This can be seen as a daunting realization, especially as we’ve already increased our plastic usage more than 200 times since the 1950’s (two million metric tons versus 400 million metric tons today). On this trajectory, we will likely hit 1.1 billion metric tons by 2050. The scale of the problem is only increasing. However, the industry needs to realize it’s not an insurmountable challenge, but as one of the biggest industry polluters, we cannot keep producing harmful materials at this rate.

How can material transition challenges be overcome quickly and efficiently?
Van Aken: The materials transition will only be successful if we work together to share knowledge and best practice. This won’t be solved overnight. We’re going to have to play the long game and trust the science. The infrastructure to produce these types of sustainable materials at scale can be five or ten years, sometimes longer. Let’s consider how long ago the last type of plastic was invented – it’s been 30 years. 

To truly make a difference, brand owners need to proceed with urgency but practice patience when it comes to results.  Van Aken says Avantium has been contributing to a circular economy through its PEF-based products.

How is Avantium contributing to a circular economy?
Van Aken: Avantium has been contributing to a circular economy through its proprietary technologies and materials, such as polyethylene furanoate (PEF). PEF, our plant-based, above-ground solution, is a reliable and durable and circular alternative to 100% fossil-based plastic. It can be used across multiple applications, including plastic packaging, film, textiles and bottles.

Avantium is one of the few companies that is doing this at scale with many of the world’s top brands. Carlsberg and LVMH are just two of the notable companies that have signed off-take agreements with Avantium to sell plant-based bottles and packaging.

Although we have succeeded at scaling PEF – we are currently building our furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) Flagship Plant with a capacity of 5 kilotons per annum and have recently signed a licensing agreement with Origin Materials for a 100 kilotons per annum facility – we certainly aren’t stopping there. 

The requirement for brands is to meet the challenges of the brands at sufficient speed: once people understand that renewable and circular products are possible and price, performance and cost competitive, the market will switch and the renewables industry will be pressured to scale fast enough to enable the transition. Our industry needs to demonstrate sustainable alternatives can be cost-effective and performance competitive in the long run, appealing to consumers and having a positive effect on the environment. This is the challenge we face daily. 

By Natalie Schwertheim