With materials consumption constantly increasing and the waste accumulating and contaminating our land, water, and air, we are now facing a global challenge that has never been more pressing. Some of the most promising avenues currently studied in the field of sustainable materials are to substitute resource-intensive and hazardous materials with renewable and non-toxic materials, redesign manufacturing processes to be less wasteful and consume less energy, integrate synthetic biology tools, and develop viable end-of-life strategies. Realizing these strategies requires materials scientists, chemical and process engineers, synthetic biologists, environmental scientists and chemists to collaboratively provide solutions to address this multifaceted global challenge. This symposium will be centered around these strategies and areas of expertise, with a particular focus on polymers and bio-based materials. Areas of interest span the following emerging topics: development of new materials that are either biodegradable or recyclable, materials obtained using low-energy or waste-less processing methods, biobased, bioderived or self-grown materials and their composites, self-healing materials, waste-derived materials, engineered living materials and structural living materials, policies for banning toxic and environmentally hazardous chemicals from products and strategies to develop alternative materials to replace such chemicals, life cycle assessment of sustainable materials, materials recovery and studies of biodegradation and recycling or regeneration of sustainable materials. Finally, our symposium will include a roundtable discussion on integrating sustainability into materials science education.

abundant biological synthesis (assembly) biomimetic (assembly) circular economy degradable life cycle assessment recovery recycling renewable