Ahead of their exciting presence at ChemUK this May, AZoM spoke to BASF’s Senior Sustainability Manager Tony Heslop about the ‘impossible bottle’ and the work they are doing to achieve Net Zero by 2050.
Could you please introduce yourself and your career path?
I am currently BASF’s Senior Sustainability Manager in the UK and Ireland. I studied chemistry at university before working in the coatings industry, where I worked in the lab, through technical services and then into raw materials sales. I spent a few years in sales at BASF, then moved into market development and transitioned into sustainability for the UK five years ago.
Who is BASF and what products and services does the company offer?
We are the largest chemical company in the world and our portfolio is extensive. Key markets for us in the UK include the automotive industry. We offer many automotive coatings as well as plastics and fluids that go into cars, trucks or buses. We’re also very involved with construction in terms of things like insulation. Beyond that are the healthcare, pharmaceutical, human nutrition and animal nutrition markets. We make everything from basic chemicals to formulated products and everything in between.
BASF wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. What are some of the ways the company is meeting this challenge?
In our journey towards climate neutrality, we have set ourselves ambitious goals and strive worldwide to achieve net zero CO.2 emissions by 2050. In addition, we aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 25 percent by 2030 compared to 2018. Excluding the effects of projected growth, this means reducing CO2 emissions in half in the current business by the end of this decade.
At the heart of the long-term transition to net zero CO2 emissions for 2050 is the use of new technologies, which will replace fossil fuels such as natural gas with electricity from renewable sources. Most of these technologies are being pioneered by BASF in collaboration with partners and are currently in a pilot phase. Large-scale scale-up of these technologies can only be fully realized after 2030. These activities have been incorporated into our carbon management approach.
Our carbon management plan has five levers:
- Lever from gray to green – We increasingly meet our energy needs from renewable sources
- Steam power lever – We rely more and more on energy recovery to produce steam
- Continuous OpEx leverage – We are working to further improve the energy and process efficiency of our plants
- Leverage of raw materials of bio origin – We are increasingly replacing fossil resources with renewable raw materials
- Lever of New Technologies – Together with partners, we are pioneers in almost carbon-free production processes, especially for emission-intensive basic chemicals.
If you are interested in learning more about our carbon management, you can find more information here.
Why is it particularly difficult to achieve sustainability in the chemical industry?
The chemical industry is complex and its products support many different value chains. Innovation in the chemical industry will help meet the needs of global society and provide future solutions that help reduce emissions. However, we recognize that the chemical industry is also part of the problem. Chemical production processes are still too fossil energy and CO intensive2 emissions At BASF, we are already fundamentally reinventing the way chemicals are produced and the role chemistry can play in creating a truly sustainable world.
Image credit: is1003/Shutterstock.com
A recent example I can share is that BASF and 14 other organizations have signed a collaboration agreement to launch a two-year project “Flue2Chem”, a collaborative program to transform the sustainability of the consumer products industry in UK and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a demonstration. ladder This is an exciting innovative step to help the UK achieve its net zero targets, please read more here.
BASF will be attending ChemUK in Birmingham this May and will be bringing an exciting programme. Could you tell us about the ‘Impossible Bottle’ talk you’ll be doing there?
For the past three years we have been working with Pulpex (a spin-off from drinks brand owner Diageo) on the development of a paper bottle. This talk, ‘The Impossible Bottle’, details the innovation process that has been carried out to develop this new packaging format.
Pulpex came to us when they had developed a process to produce bottles from paper pulp. They needed a technology partner to help them make their bottles hold a variety of different liquids. BASF was able to offer solutions that balanced the need to contain liquid in the bottle, but also keep the paper pulpable so that it could be recycled through existing paper collection schemes.
There have been many challenges along the way. As interest grew, other FMCG brand owners joined the consortium and BASF was tasked with finding a solution to contain a wide variety of liquids, such as detergents and motor oil, each with the its own characteristics. In the end, there is no “one size fits all” and customized solutions have been developed for each liquid, depending on the required performance.
The finished product is a bottle that meets performance needs as a packaging solution, but is fully recyclable through existing paper collection schemes. We look forward to seeing Pulpex bottles on retail shelves very soon.
How quickly do you think your food and beverage paper compost can be scaled and widely adopted?
The technology is there, and it’s been a journey. I’d say we’re about 99% complete. It is not intended to be a plastic replacement or a glass replacement, or a tin replacement, just another solution for certain particular niche applications.
At the moment, Pulpex has a pilot facility on the outskirts of Cambridge, which has the capacity to manufacture thousands of bottles. A new factory is currently being built near Derby which can produce bottles at scale.
What else can visitors expect from BASF’s presence at the fair?
BASF is represented at ChemUK through our distribution partner BTC, who have a stand at the show, so feel free to call in for a chat. We have several speakers participating in the speaker program. On the first day, our CEO, Thomas Birk, will deliver a keynote speech. Later that afternoon Neil Hollis, Regulatory Affairs Manager, will host a panel discussion on UK REACH.
On day two I’m hosting a panel session called “Navigating Net Zero.” This session builds on a recent event held at our UK headquarters in Stockport which aimed to help customers take the first steps on their Net Zero journey. For the panel discussion, I will be joined by representatives from three chemical companies who will share their own progress to date, some of the challenges they have encountered and how they have overcome them. I’m looking forward to a lively and interactive discussion.
Why is it important for BASF to participate in face-to-face conferences like ChemUK?
On the one hand, there is human interaction. When you want to have discussions with people often about quite complex topics, and you want to build networks and relationships, it has to be face-to-face.
I think the second reason is actually the importance of having a place for our industry because we haven’t had it in the past. And it’s one of the reasons I think we sat down and got interested in CHEMUK in the first place.
The chemical industry in the UK has been largely anonymous for many years. And it is important to say: “Look at us, we’re here, we’re visible and we make a significant contribution to the UK economy.”
About Tony Heslop
Tony Heslop is BASF’s Senior Director of Sustainability in the UK and Ireland. He is a chemist by training and has held many professional roles within the chemical industry throughout his career.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited (T/A) AZoNetwork, the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and Conditions of Use for this website.
