COP26 Voices

Chris Turner, Site Manager, Cinderford

Sustainability at work
I’ve worked for BASF Metals Recycling Ltd for 8 years and have been site manager for 2 of those years. Our core business is the recycling of automotive catalytic convertors, primarily for the recovery of the precious metals contained within the convertor. The precious metals include Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium, known collectively as Platinum Group Metals or PGMs.

As an integral part of BASF’s Catalysts business, we as a group are the largest recycler of PGM’s globally with a market share of approximately 40%, supplying BASF with 60% of its precious metals for use in the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors.

The team at Cinderford is so proud to be able to contribute to the sustainable sourcing of PGMs through our recycling process, a process which produces 90% less carbon dioxide compared to conventional mining of these metals.

Continuing the success of its PGM recycling business the team is embarking on a new venture of battery material recycling. October 2021 was the first month in which material was received and sampled for refining globally with our strategic partners. The sustainable sourcing of the base metals contained in Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries is imperative to reduce BASF’s carbon footprint.

My hope for my Cinderford colleagues
I have recently completed Carbon Literacy training, an informative programme run by BASF in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Trust that brings an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities. The sessions opened my eyes and I feel I have gained an understanding of what impact climate change is having on our world. I don’t think I had this before attending, despite working in a business which can be described as a circular economy, and I feel strongly that as many people as possible need to be made aware of the urgency for action. I am proud to work for a company who is providing such an education to its employees and customers and I am actually surprised how much learning more about this topic has resonated with me. Put simply, this is one thing we can and must tackle head on.

I have also been giving much thought to biodiversity and how that fits into the topic of climate change. I am keen to make some changes where we can around our site because not only will this have a positive environmental impact but the known benefits to mental health are too strong to ignore.

My hope for COP26
I am looking forward to seeing some positive action from our global leaders coming from COP26. Investment programmes for reusable energy solutions and steering programmes to assist would show real commitment. Recent months have focused my mind on two other areas I would urge our leaders to address – supporting companies to effectively implement agile working policies and forcing the reduction in international travel.