Arkema’s commitment to advanced bio-circular polyamide 11 has been honored with a Sustainable Leadership Award for Societal Contributions by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The award recognizes products, processes or initiatives that illustrate a commitment to innovating for a sustainable future for society.

Arkema has demonstrated its leadership commitment by currently building the world’s largest bio-factory for advanced polyamide 11 in Singapore, while also co-founding and driving Pragati, the world’s first sustainable castor farming program, and launching its flagship Virtucycle program for partially and fully recycled advanced bio-polymers.

“We’re honored to be recognized by the ACC for our advances in advanced bio-circular (ABC) polymers and the Group’s global commitment to developing sustainable solutions that meet current and future social challenges,” said Kevin Hanrahan, chief marketing officer, High Performance Polymers. “We are investing several hundred million euros in our new integrated Singapore plant that will start up in the first half of next year where 100% of our monomer and polymer production will be sourced from renewable castor beans.”

Arkema is a global pioneer in advanced polyamide 11 materials derived 100% from sustainable castor oil, and the company is a founding member of the Pragati initiative for sustainable castor bean farming in India. Several thousand castor bean farmers and their families have been trained and certified by the Pragati initiative so far.

To further strengthen its commitment to the circular economy, Arkema created its Virtucycle recycling program in 2019. The program develops loops for the collection and regeneration of high performance polymers while minimizing CO2 emissions. Recently Arkema announced the planned acquisition of Agiplast, its historical partner in recycling operations, which will enable the company to offer a full service to customers in terms of materials circularity.