Experts from some of the world’s biggest companies – including Unilever and  BASF – are joining forces with leading academics, trade associations, research institutes and policymakers under a new initiative catalyzed by the Royal Society of Chemistry to reduce the environmental impact of millions of household and industrial chemicals.

Polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs) are key ingredients found in a wide range of products, from paints, coatings and water treatment, to cosmetics, personal care and household cleaning products. Members of the new Sustainable PLFs 2040 initiative will collaborate to revolutionise the way PLFs are made, used and disposed of by 2040.

These PLFs are worth $125 billion each year and are essential to making millions of products work – but almost none of the 36 million tonnes of these near ubiquitous chemicals are recovered or recycled after use.

Professor Anju Massey-Brooker from the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “We encounter PLFs every single day, but in terms of research and development they are the ‘forgotten’ group of polymers. There is an urgent need to make them more sustainable by developing biodegradable alternatives and developing circular economy infrastructure to stop the waste of these valuable chemicals, which in many cases, go directly down the plughole.

“We cannot overstate the scale of the challenge – so it’s tremendous to have so many of the world’s largest producers and users of these chemical ingredients committing their expertise and resource to help clean them up and create new tools and knowledge that will benefit business, the environment and society as a whole.”

Under the new formal structure of the Sustainable PLFs 2040 initiative, a foresight and coordination group will be responsible for overseeing delivery against a roadmap previously published by the RSC. The group will collaborate across sectors while fostering inclusive decision-making, and driving coordinated actions that lead to long-term, sustainable change.

The group is initially comprised of: Professor Anju Massey Brooker from the Royal Society of Chemistry; Professor Andreas Künkel and Dr Martin Klatt from the world’s biggest chemicals company, BASF; Dr Paul Jenkins from Unilever; former RSC president, Professor Gill Reid from the University of Southampton; Professor Matthew Davidson from the University of Bath; Dr Jen Vanderhoven from the BBIA; and Dr Damian Kelly from Croda.

Foresight and coordination group member and RSC past-president Professor Gill Reid said: “This is a truly exciting area for innovation, and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s unique approach will be instrumental in delivering real, tangible results—from pioneering research to market-ready products. The emphasis on developing sustainability assessment and reporting tools that are accessible to all on a pre-competitive basis is particularly promising, as it will empower industry-wide progress and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future by 2040.”

Dr Damian Kelly from chemicals company Croda said: “Polymers for liquid formulations represent a critically important class of chemical products that are essential ingredients in many different liquid formulations across various end applications. Polymers have historically been developed to deliver a cost-effective specific performance within a formulation with little attention given to how they are produced or what happens to them once they have served their purpose.”

The Sustainable PLFs 2040 initiative will bring together leading companies operating across the supply chains with the capability to develop, scale and commercialise novel polymers with significantly improved environmental credentials.”

The launch of the Sustainable PLFs 2040 initiative is the latest step in ongoing work first started in 2017. Keen to apply lessons learned from improving the sustainability of plastics use, in 2021 the RSC formed the Sustainable PLFs Task Force to chart a path forward for this group of non-plastic polymers. The end result was the creation of a dedicated roadmap to guide a transformation in the chemical industries from producing fossil fuel derived PLFs to sustainable PLFs by 2040.

Central to the roadmap are two missions to develop and scale biodegradable PLFs by 2030 and advance circular economy infrastructure for PLFs by 2030, both of which will catalyse the transition to sustainable PLFs by 2040.

For more information about the Sustainable PLFs 2040 initiative, please visit: https://www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2025/03-march/Sustainable-PLFs-Initiative-2040