Our Stories
BASF is contributing toward a circular economy through innovation and multi-sector collaboration
Climate change, a pressing issue regardless of where we live, affects human life and the natural environment. Its effects are complex and disproportionate across the globe. To protect our climate, innovation is crucial to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Implementing the innovative concept of circular economy — a closed-loop system where materials never become waste and nature is always regenerated — is imperative.
BASF is driving circular economy by making the most of the limited resources of our planet: We keep them in use for as long as possible, minimize waste and create value with renewable resources.
“At BASF, sustainability matters,” said Marc Ehrhardt, President, Region North America, BASF Corporation. “We set global long-term economic, environmental, safety, employee and societal goals. Creating sustainable solutions through chemistry is key in achieving a better tomorrow.”
As part of BASF’s Sustainability Matters series, we invited experts, partners, and key stakeholders to discuss sustainability trends, challenges, and long-term solutions for a sustainable future. Access the on-demand recordings to discover how together, we are driving a circular economy with creativity, collaboration and commitment.
1. Contributing to global plastic circularity
The transformation from linear to circular value capture and creation — circularity —dovetails with climate and social responsibilities for companies operating in the world today. The chemical industry is in a unique position to champion and help accelerate circularity with its technical expertise and ability to create innovative solutions. BASF, its partners, and key stakeholders recognize that driving global plastic circularity requires alternative raw materials at a scalable price, innovative mechanical and advanced recycling technologies, renewable energy sources to manufacture materials, and collaboration both upstream and downstream. Even if companies meet these requirements, it is not enough.
In this session, the panelists discuss these topics, as well as the barriers that need to be overcome and the key enablers for circularity in the plastics industry. They also explore the key role the chemical industry plays in contributing to circularity, including its involvement in the international plastics treaty.
“We view circularity as keeping materials out of the environment that don’t belong there; finding value in the end-of-life materials so they can be recycled, reused and repurposed; and investment in new technologies to bring new solutions forward,” shares Jay Bickett, SVP, Polymers & Specialties, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.
Watch the “Developing Circularity in Plastics” session recording
2. Innovating to keep plastic in the value chain
One of the major challenges on our path towards a circular economy is the lack of high-quality recycling worldwide. A key element of establishing circularity lies in the first step of the recycling process: a clean, on-the-spot sorting of plastic waste. To address this, BASF is partnering with one of its subsidiaries trinamiX, the leading provider of a hand-held near infrared spectrometer for plastic sorting. Using this innovative technology, BASF and trinamiX are collaborating with Net Your Problem, a company that recycles end-of-life fishing gear, and with Grundéns, a leading manufacturer of fishing apparel and footwear, to provide an alternative to end-of-life recycling of nylon fishing nets. This effort captures the material value of the old fishing nets and prevents them from entering the marine or terrestrial environments and landfill streams.
In this session, Susan Jackson, Head of Communications and Sustainability for Performance Materials at BASF North America, shares how this four-company collaboration keeps plastic in the value chain. The companies do this by turning old fishing nets into a secondary raw material used by BASF to manufacture products for automotive and furniture applications and used by Grundéns to manufacture new apparel. “Big corporations like BASF involved at a local level not only helps local communities but also sets a precedent on a larger scale that others can follow,” said Nicole Baker, Owner, Net Your Problem.
Watch the “Breathing new life into old fishing nets” session recording
3. Partnering to integrate alternative feedstocks across supply chains
The chemical industry is at the very beginning of the value chain and is developing new supply chains and innovative technologies and identifying new raw materials — all to keep fossil resources in the ground. These innovations provide alternatives, but they come at a cost.
In this session, Kelly Gilroy, Vice President, Sustainable & Natural Products, Univar Solutions, discusses how Univar effectively communicates and markets its supplier partners’ sustainable products to customers downstream. Kelly also shares the major challenges to sourcing and marketing circular and renewable feedstock.
Ryan Melsert, CEO American Battery Technology Company, explains their partnership with BASF for EV (electric vehicle) battery recycling and how it is an example of a truly circular, closed-loop process. Ryan also addresses what claims consumers want to see from the automotive EV companies. These two speakers tackle what is needed to move toward a position of greater circularity in the chemical industry. Melsert emphasizes, “We have to be able to be transparent about every sector of a supply chain to make a compelling case to consumers that the product was made with a circular solution and the ABTC/BASF EV battery recycling partnership is a great example of that.”
4. Decarbonizing feed and fuel to build circularity
Circularity can be achieved in the context of low carbon intensity corn by implementing a series of interconnected processes. It all starts with maximizing the value of one kernel of corn.
In this session, experts in agriculture, ethanol fuels and bioenergy share how circularity can be achieved in agriculture by decarbonizing critical value chains such as food, feed, fuel, and fiber. Kendra Donnelly, CFO, Korova Feeder, shares their pilot project that both decarbonizes and monetizes the beef cattle feedlot value chain, creating a virtual loop operation.
“BASF can now apply to agriculture the same well-known circularity principles it has used in ChemCycling and is creating new circular business models with our customers’ sustainability aspirations in mind,” said Jessica Monserrate, Head of Sustainability, BASF Agricultural Solutions North America.
Watch the “Agriculture – Decarbonizing Feed and Fuel to Build Circularity” recording
5. Recycling plastic waste into building materials
Trex Company is the world’s leading manufacturer of alternative decking products, and one of the largest recyclers of plastic film in North America. A collaboration between BASF and Trex is keeping plastics in the loop by integrating high-performance decking into one of BASF’s remediation sites.
In this session, learn how BASF is melding innovation and environmental responsibility by transforming a legacy BASF industrial property into a riverfront park that connects visitors to the riverfront with a 1000-foot deck made of Trex materials.
Watch the “Recycled Film: From Dumpster to Decking” session recording
6. Enabling recycled contents in the agricultural sector in Canada
Plastics play a significant role in modern society, and agriculture is no exception as most “grown” products are contained in some form of plastic packaging. Increasingly, companies and regulators expect these materials to be both circular and sustainable. Experts discuss the Canadian government’s lead role in promoting the use of post-consumer recycled material in plastic packaging, and how important collaborations are in making the industry’s transition.
In this session, learn how a partnership between Cleanfarms and BASF is enabling the use of recycled plastic content in agricultural plastics. In 2023, their flagship program of polyethylene plastic collection and recycling avoided 9.5 million kilograms (about 20.9 million lbs.) of CO2 emissions from displaced virgin plastics in new products. That is the equivalent of taking 2,000 trucks off the road or planting 155,000 trees. “I see the work of Cleanfarms and BASF as a model that will foster collaboration among the rest of the agricultural sector,” shared Christa Seaman, VP Plastics, Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.
Watch the “Growing Circularity for Canadian Agricultural Plastics” recording
7. Leveraging AI for sustainability in the chemical industry
Artificial intelligence (AI) is innovating the way businesses think about sustainability. Chief Sustainability officer at Microsoft Germany, Sean Jones, provides an overview of Microsoft’s approach to meeting its sustainability goals; how it is using AI to identify waste streams using digital technology; and how AI can be applied to the chemical industry. Marc Ehrhardt, President of BASF North America, shares BASF’s efforts and collaborations for circularity with carbon management.
Watch the “AI for a Sustainable Future – Microsoft” recording
8. Investing in partnerships to reduce the plastic footprint
BASF Venture Capital invested in, and is collaborating with, Oceanworks, a company that specializes in making markets for undervalued plastic waste around the globe. In this session, Vanessa Coleman, CEO of Oceanworks, shares how the development of a “block chain data platform” enhances transparency in supply chains and enables large companies to source waste from different regions. “The key to eliminating visible plastic pollution is making that material valuable,” said Vanessa.
Watch the “Sea Plastic Differently – Fireside Chat” recording
9. Collaborating for Sustainable Soft Materials Innovation
BASF has a long history of innovations through external collaborations with universities to co-develop sustainable solutions. Increasingly, the search for solutions to enable innovation to achieve a circular economy relies on utilizing the power of a collaboration of companies, government (funding), and academia.
In this session, the panelists discuss how the National Science Foundation and multiple companies banded together to accelerate the design of sustainable soft materials.
Watch the “Collaborative Innovation for Sustainable Soft Materials” recording
Published on August 14, 2024.
Written by Susan Emmerich.
For media inquiries or to repurpose this article, please contact Lisa Brown.