Professor Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, is the world’s first Professor of Sustainable Chemistry. Tom recognises that chemicals are all around us and our modern lives rely on the products of the synthetic chemicals industry. However, the production of synthetic chemicals is often associated with polluting of the environment. There are many ways in which we can meet the challenge of building sustainable modern societies. This can be from changing our own consuming behaviours by reusing products that we once treated as disposable and recycling our waste. Sustainable Chemistry applies ideas such as these and using renewable resources to the production of synthetic chemicals, so helping us achieve a cleaner world.