Sustainable Materials: Circular by Chemistry

Sustainability is not achieved by using less—it is achieved by designing materials to return. Sustainable Materials: Circular by Chemistry examines how chemical design enables materials that cycle, regenerate, and retain value instead of becoming waste.
This book takes a chemistry-led approach to circularity. It explains how molecular choices determine recyclability, biodegradability, reusability, and lifetime performance. Rather than focusing on end-of-life fixes, the book shows why circular outcomes are decided at the synthesis stage.
Readers learn how polymers are redesigned for depolymerization, how composites are rethought for separation, and how bio-based feedstocks and catalysts close loops without sacrificing performance. Tradeoffs are confronted honestly: durability versus recoverability, purity versus scalability.
You will explore:
• Why circularity starts at the molecular level
• How chemistry enables reuse and regeneration
• Where recycling fails—and how design fixes it
• How materials retain value across multiple lives
• Why sustainability is engineered, not added later
This book is for chemists, materials engineers, sustainability leaders, and manufacturers who want impact by design. If the future of materials is circular, this book shows how chemistry makes the loop close.