Moscow, Russian Federation
This study investigates how robust environmental-management philosophies can be woven into polymer-manufacturing practice so that ecological burdens fall while enterprise competitiveness rises. Twenty-seven production plants on three continents were examined between January 2021 and December 2023. A triangulated method combined cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment, plant-level material-flow analysis, and a fourteen-dimension evaluation of environmental-management-system (EMS) maturity. Facilities that adopted deeply integrated EMS architectures cut overall resource use 23–37%, trimmed waste 41–52%, and lifted material-circularity indices by 142–167% in comparison with baseline operations. Four technological transition routes were documented—advanced recycling, renewable-energy substitution, bio-based feedstock introduction, and closed-loop manufacturing—and a hybrid route that merged two or more of these options. Hybrid adopters attained the most balanced performance, improving composite sustainability indices by factors of 2.7–3.5 relative to starting points and generating cumulative net economic benefits of €314 t –1 over seven years. Multivariate statistics showed a strong positive link between EMS maturity and ecological improvement (Spearman ρ = 0.78, p < 0.001). Qualitative analysis singled out leadership commitment, data-driven decision protocols, and continuous-improvement cultures as decisive success factors. The work delivers a pragmatic, evidence-based framework that polymer manufacturers can apply to reconcile growth targets with the accelerating regulatory, market-driven, and moral demand for sustainability.
polymer sustainability, environmental management systems, circular economy, life-cycle assessment, clean production, industrial ecology, sustainable manufacturing
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