Sustainability i.e., reducing the consumption of our non-renewable natural resources and energy is our absolute commandment in order to make sure that life is possible for all of us on our planet. Only sustainability can guarantee this basis of our livelihood. Plastics hold a key position on the road to sustainability. The vast majority of experts and even a growing number of skeptics agree on this fact. The K 2010 will demonstrate in a number of convincing examples, how plastics can help when it comes to save our resources and to use energy in the most economical way. Plastics can thus enormously contribute to slow down or even to stop the minacious and often discussed global climate change. In this edition you will find a selection of examples.

Research - the Starting
Point of Innovation
It is widely accepted that groundbreaking developments always result from innovations. Sustainable development is intrinsically tied to new technologies which are made possible by new research results. Polymer research is the most important driving force to make sure that plastics can reach their full potential for the sustainable formation of our economic, social and ecological environment. This polymer research comprises the chemistry, physics and technology of the plastics.
The leading position of our plastics industry is entirely based on the quality and performance of our polymer research. This also makes it possible for plastics to take on the role to shape our world into an environmentally friendly place and which makes people feel comfortable. If we are set out to keep our current position we do not only have to defend but continuously and actively expand our knowledge in polymer research. This requires focusing our research goals entirely on the problems and needs of the people.

Goals
The central tasks of sustainable development can be defined as:
- Reducing the waste of natural resources.
- Cutting back in the consumption of energy.
- Abandoning the use of fossil fuels.
But what has been achieved so far?

Plastics already help pursue these goals:
Lower energy consumption during their production and manufacturing give them a strong advantage over traditional materials like metal or ceramic.
Their application in the construction of automobiles and aircrafts tremendously helps reduce weight and thereby make mobility more energy efficient.
The insulation of houses, private and commercial, with foamed plastics reduces the loss of energy.
Intelligent packaging, based on plastics reduces energy consumption for transportation, help protect the goods and last but not least guarantees the consumer hygiene.
And we should note that only polymer composites make it possible to construct large scale, efficient wind energy plants.
But this is just the beginning! Plastics bear a much larger and yet unused potential to secure our prosperity! Scientists in university laboratories and in academic research institutions as well as in the industry are working on technologies to preserve our environment come to reality. These technologies shall not only fulfill our ecological but also our economic and social needs.

Visions
Which tasks and solutions are already visible?
The modification of plastics by using nanoscale particles opens the door to new and extremely efficient nanocomposites which will make constructions with high performance and long lifetime feasible. The novel material behavior, which for example combines a gain in hardness with additional toughness, is based on the large proportion of inner boundary present in these materials. Therefore the development of stable nanocomposites which can be easily processed is a preeminent task for the future.
When looking at the applications of organic materials on a broad range it becomes obvious that flammability is one of their inherent disadvantages. The number of non-flammable plastics is extremely limited. Although this can be overcome by adding flame retarding agents, often the high toxicity of these additives or that of the fumes they produce make an improvement of flame protection a goal of high priority. By carefully analyzing the process of combustion new approaches for flame protection can be derived to use existing flame retarding agents more efficiently or to develop alternative ones. First results prove that the use of nanoscale flame retarding agents offers progress in this field.

The use of functional plastics in complex structures and surfaces promises enormous progress in material development as well as savings in energy and material. Current results suggest the following important applications:
- Solar cells and light emitting diodes
- Printed electronics and optoelectronics
- Long lasting high performance membranes for fuel cells and lithium batteries
- Sensors and actuators for switchable or self healing elements
- Surfaces with defined properties which may also be switchable including i.e., antistatics, self cleaning or the diagnosis of changes in the material itself.

Renewable resources are gaining increasing importance in regard to sustainability because their application does not produce CO2. The development of biotechnological production methods puts such materials more and more in the focus of new material developments. Applications are already visible in natural fiber composites. Individual elements of polymers are already of plant origin. It is expected that this trend is going to continue and even going to grow because particular properties like their biological degradation behavior can be tuned.

New Perspectives for Research and Industry
Looking at these perspectives the plastics industry can be very optimistic for the future. By innovation and with new products the plastics industry can strongly contribute to a lifestyle which not only preserves our environment but also strongly keeps an eye on natural rescources. The economic basis for this high standard of technology is achieved by interdisciplinary research like the one practiced at the German Institute for Polymers, DKI. DKI is an important hub in both, national and international research web. It is a crucial task for politics to understand research as the key for ensuring our existence and to support it in the way needed therefore.