Product Sustainability Award: Sustainable resin development
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Beckers Sustainability Award 2021. Every year, we are impressed by the standard of nominations.
Turning plastic waste into something useful
The Sustainability Council honored this team for its initiative to turn problem plastic waste into something useful – more sustainable coatings. It made use of Beckers’ new resin facility to feed in recycled materials. Their proactive approach demonstrates broad sustainable thinking and commitment. It lives up to Beckers’ 2030 Sustainability Goals to develop and market sustainable products – and more broadly advances the idea of circularity and the goals in the operations stream.
The project’s driving idea was to use waste PET bottles and WET IPA to develop sustainable resins for coil coatings. The team used both raw materials to make lab and pilot batches of resins for primers, backing coats and top coats. Successful line trials of paints based on the resins and first commercial sales suggest this is a promising initiative. It can control land pollution by recycling plastic waste (PET) and reduce water pollution by reusing the waste stream product WET IPA. Both materials have the potential to revolutionize the resin industry. The jury was impressed by the broad thinking, strong collaboration and business outlook behind this project.
“We are very proud to have received the award. This is a huge ongoing project and we are now working towards the commercial realization of the sustainable products.”
Chetan Prakash | Vice-President (Technical and R&D), India
Beckers’ donation on behalf of this team will go to Sunadabai Bandodkar high school in Salvador Do Mundo, Goa, India.
About the Beckers Sustainability Award
Every year, Beckers awards sustainable behavior with its Beckers Sustainability Award. The categories are aligned with our 2030 Sustainability Strategy, with awards going to projects that feature people, products and operations that are making an impact. The Beckers Sustainability Council decides on a shortlist and judges them according to their effectiveness in advancing the goals of our 2030 Sustainability Strategy. It also takes into account their impact on our business, their level of innovation, their passion and commitment, and the transferability of the projects and ideas.
We would like to praise the engagement and creativity of all the employees who took part. Overall, we had 49 nominations from 11 Beckers sites in 2021 – the highest number of participants ever.
