Sustainability
BASF employees in Ludwigshafen and Shanghai take an active role in the fight against waste pollution
September 21, 2020
As a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), BASF is collaborating with around 50 companies worldwide to develop new solutions for the management of plastic waste. To collect plastic waste from the environment, the 300 BASF employees and volunteers took part in the alliance's "All Together Global Cleanup" campaign on September 19 in Ludwigshafen and Shanghai.
In Ludwigshafen, 170 participants collected a total of 7,500 liters of waste, mainly plastic waste, on the Reinschanzenpromenade and the Park island during the volunteer day of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. BASF organized the campaign for a clean future together with the city of Ludwigshafen, the port operations and Wirtschaftsbetrieb Ludwigshafen. Michael Heinz, Site Director of Ludwigshafen and Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF also took part in the collective action and spoke in favor of the voluntary commitment. "The employees care about the environment. I am proud that we set up such a strong action – out in the open and while maintaining the distance – even under Corona conditions," said Heinz, also chairman of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region (MRN).
On September 19, BASF organized its first corporate cleanup volunteering activity in Shanghai in cooperation with Pickup China, a Shanghai-based environmental non-governmental organization, which introduced World Cleanup Day to China. Led by Stephan Kothrade, President and Chairman Greater China, 120 BASF “trash hunters” including BASF colleagues and families gathered near Suzhou River to clean up wastes including plastic wastes in the city center of Shanghai, contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable world. Within 90 minutes, BASF volunteers cleaned up a total of 116.3kg of wastes.
For everyone who wants to engage in the cleanup campaign, AEPW is offering to use the Litterati app when individually collecting litter. Please visit the webpage for more information on the AllTogetherCleanup.org campaign. For more information about the All Together Global Cleanup-campaign, as well as a variety of entertaining instructional videos and content, visit the Partnership Microsite with TedEd.