Governing Material Change: Strategies for Circular Design, Compliance, and Supply-Chain Resilience through Industry-Academia Collaborations

Industries across pharmaceuticals, aerospace, automotive, electronics, construction, and chemicals face converging pressures from regulatory phase-outs (e.g., PFAS, REACH, TSCA), volatile supply chains, and rising sustainability expectations. This half-day session places circular chemistry at the technical core: molecule- and route-level design choices (synthesis routes, formulations, de-polymerizable chemistries, benign solvents) that determine sustainable product performance, recyclability, persistence, and toxicity. . This session will integrate chemistry and process innovations — quantified with green-chemistry and circularity metrics — that directly inform regulatory compliance, supply-chain resilience, and scalable circular pathways. Who should attend Practitioners and researchers from industry, academia, regulation, and digital-tool providers — including synthetic and polymer chemists, process chemists, chemical engineers, LCA and toxicology experts, materials suppliers, OEMs, and supply-chain technology teams. The session will: · Center circular chemistry as the engine of material substitution and circular outcomes, not only as a downstream compliance issue. · Make chemistry the pivot: show how alternative chemistries (benign solvents, safer monomers, de-polymerizable polymers, renewable resources, regenerative materials, non-PFAS surface finishes) enable regulatory compliance, downstream recycling, and performance parity. · Present quantitative green-chemistry and circularity metrics (e.g., atom economy, E-factor, Process Mass Intensity, DOZN, MCI, LCA endpoints, hazard/PBT flags) and case examples showing how these metrics guided substitution and design decisions. · Present real-world case studies of compliance-driven material obsolescence and the technical, economic, and social trade-offs encountered during transitions. · Showcase industry-led circular design strategies that integrate multi-criteria sustainability metrics (LCA, DOZN, circularity indicators) alongside supply-chain and regulatory constraints. · Demonstrate digital tools and supply-chain mapping approaches (risk scoring, provenance, supplier engagement) that enable early detection and mitigation of material risks and track chemical substitutions through value chains. · Discuss workforce skills, just-transition, and policy levers — with attention to global-south contexts and academic-industry training pipelines for circular chemical transformations. · Explore cross-sector chemical design approaches that retain or improve performance while meeting regulatory and end-of-life requirements (e.g., depolymerizable polymers, non-PFAS surface systems, solvent-recovery chemistries). · Include academic and industrial chemists who led substitution R&D, and life-cycle/toxicology experts who quantify tradeoffs. Key themes and takeaways · Chemistry first: examples of non-PFAS surface systems, depolymerizable polymers for closed-loop recovery, solvent swaps in API manufacture, and benign monomer alternatives. · Metrics that matter: atom economy, Process Mass Intensity (PMI), E-factor, DOZN (green chemistry score), Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), LCA endpoints (GWP, human/ecotoxicity), persistence/bioaccumulation/toxicity flags, and recyclability/closed-loop recovery rates. · Translating metrics into action: how metric thresholds and techno-economic tradeoffs shaped substitution choices, scale-up timelines, and procurement decisions. · Tools & governance: supply-chain risk scoring, provenance/trust platforms, regulatory data expectations (minimum data packages), and public-private partnership models to accelerate R&D and deployment. Speakers will include invited industry practitioners (materials suppliers, OEMs (different industries)), regulators or regulatory advisors (most likely from Europe), supply-chain technology providers, and academic researchers working at the interface of green chemistry and industrial implementation. The convenors will aim for 2 invited and 6 contributed talks and an inclusive geographic and disciplinary balance. Aligned SDGs: 9 (Industry, Innovation, Infrastructure), 12 (Responsible Consumption & Production), 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities), 13 (Climate Action), 4 (Quality Education), 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Call for abstracts We welcome submissions from chemists, materials scientists, chemical engineers, LCA specialists, toxicologists, industrial R&D teams, OEMs and supply-chain technologists. Abstracts should: 1. Describe a material or chemical redesign that advances circularity, resource efficiency that is environmentally sustainable, safe, or meets regulatory compliance. 2. Include quantitative metrics (e.g., PMI, atom economy, DOZN score, LCA GWP, recyclability rate, or hazard-reduction indicator). 3. Summarize scale-up readiness/technology readiness level and key socio-economic tradeoffs. Preference will be given to submissions that demonstrate collaboration across industry and academia, cross-sector relevance, and consideration of global-south contexts.

Hanno Erythropel, Ph.D., Yale University

Lars Ratjen

Paul Anastas, Yale University

Peter Licence, The University of Nottingham

Hanno Erythropel, Ph.D., Yale University

Lars Ratjen

Paul Anastas, Yale University

Peter Licence, The University of Nottingham