Covestro announced that it will unveil a range of digital tools for the polyurethane elastomer industry at Utech Europe 2021, which will be held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from 16 – 18 November 2021. According to Covestro, this is in line with the company's strategy to grow based on continuous digital transformation: it will not only impact the company's work, from plant maintenance to research and development, but also improve the way Covestro supports its customers.

Teknor Apex has announced the addition of an Arvitec co-extrusion line in their application development laboratory in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, enhancing the capabilities of their European Center of Excellence for plastics research and development. This extrusion line has been completely commissioned and trialed and is ready to support clients’ development projects as well as internal company development projects.

On 26 October 2021, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) published a report that analyzes scientific data on the environmental impacts of plastics and finds plastics to be more sustainable than alternative materials when life cycle assessments are taken into consideration. The report, authored by environmental scientist Kenneth Green and titled “Plastics and Sustainability,” further finds that eliminating plastics would be detrimental to ongoing sustainability efforts and that enhancing recycling systems is a practical solution.

CSIL – Centre for Industrial Studies is organising the first virtual edition of the World Furniture Outlook Seminar on 30 November 2021 (3.00 – 4.00 pm CET). According to CSIL, over the past two years, many things have changed. The pandemic has impacted virtually all aspects of furniture value chains:

Orion Engineered Carbons announced that it has started constructing its second plant in China for specialty and high-performance carbon black, expanding its production capacity in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. The new facility in Huaibei in the eastern province of Anhui is expected to be completed late next year and to begin operating in 2023.

On 27 October 2021, Elkem announced a strategic investment plan to unlock new specialty silicones supply for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas. The company will invest around EUR 36 million (~ NOK 350 million) to upgrade and debottleneck its silicone upstream plant in Roussillon, France.

On 20 October 2021, Neste and Ravago announced that they aim to establish a joint venture to build an industrial facility for chemical recycling in North Sea Port in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The facility is intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling activities, built upon the advancement of the thermochemical liquefaction technology of US-based Altera Energy, a chemical recycling technology company.

On 22 October 2021, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) announced the release of its Natural Rubber Trends, September 2021.

Evonik Wynca (Zhenjiang) Silicon Material Co., Ltd., the joint venture between Evonik and the Chinese company Wynca, is starting-up its new fumed silica plant. Located in the Zhenjiang New Material Industry Park in Jiangsu province, the plant is Evonik's first fumed silica production site in China. It will produce fumed silica marketed under the brand name Aerosil. More than 150 participants, including employees from Evonik and Wynca, partners, government and media representatives, attended the opening ceremony.

Lanxess and bp are entering into a strategic partnership for the use of sustainable raw materials in plastics production. bp will supply sustainably produced cyclohexane to the Lanxess’ production site in Antwerp, Belgium, starting in the fourth quarter of 2021. The sustainable origin of the raw materials is certified according to ISCC Plus rules (“International Sustainability and Carbon Certification”). With this partnership, both companies, which already have a long-standing business relationship, want to significantly advance the production of sustainable plastics. Lanxess uses cyclohexane as a precursor in the production of polyamide 6.