We want to continuously reduce emissions to air, prevent waste and protect the soil. That is why we are committed to operating our plants safely and efficiently, and to using resources responsibly. We are consistently reducing the environmental impact of our plants and processes with our Operational Excellence Program.

Strategy and governance

The safe and efficient operation of our plants and the responsible management of resources and waste are core elements of our Responsible Care Management system. We have defined our global standards for emissions to air, waste and contaminated sites in Group-wide guidelines, the implementation of which is the responsibility of the sites and Group companies. The Environmental Protection, Health, Safety and Quality unit in the Corporate Center conducts regular audits to monitor compliance with legal requirements and internal guidelines.

BASF’s global network of experts shares information, insights and best practices on an ongoing basis to further reduce our emissions to air, manage waste and responsibly handle contaminated sites.

Continuous documentation and monitoring of emissions to air, waste streams and contaminated sites as well as the imple­mentation of measures for improvement are an integral part of our environmental management. In addition to greenhouse gases, we also measure and analyze other air pollutants to prevent the emission of potentially harmful substances.

Our waste management is based on the systematic tracking of our material flows and follows a clear hierarchy: We aim to avoid waste as far as possible, for example, by continuously optimizing our processes or developing new production methods. BASF’s Verbund structure with its networked plants and value chains is key here: The by-products of one plant serve as feedstock elsewhere in the BASF Verbund, avoiding waste and enabling us to use raw materials as efficiently as possible.

If these cannot be used within BASF’s Verbund structures, we assess whether they can be recycled or thermally recovered. We have established processes for the safe, proper and environmentally responsible disposal of materials that we cannot recycle or where recycling is not legally permitted. If we use external waste disposal companies, we conduct regular audits to verify that waste is disposed of properly. In this way, we also contribute to preventive soil protection and keep today’s waste from becoming tomorrow’s contamination. If soil and groundwater contamination occurs at active, acquired or former sites, we review and implement appropriate remediation measures.

We are committed to reducing the impact on air and soil and minimizing disposal volumes and material consumption along our value chains. We expect suppliers to comply with internationally recognized environmental standards. This is assessed as part of our supplier management. We support our suppliers in developing and implementing measures for improvement, for example in waste management. We offer our customers a wide range of products that can reduce air pollutants or waste – from industrial process catalysts, fuel additives and catalysts for the automotive sector to additives and track-and-trace technologies to extend the useful life of plastics or improve mechanical recycling of plastic waste.

We are increasingly aligning our actions with the circular economy principle. For example, we are increasingly using recycled and waste-based raw materials in our production, recycling operating supplies, and expanding our capacities for recovering precious metals from spent automotive and industrial catalysts. We are also developing product-specific recycling technologies and are involved in cross-industry networks and initiatives to avoid plastic waste and strengthen the circular economy.

• More information on the circular economy

Emissions to air

Total emissions of air pollutants from our production plants amounted to 23,360 metric tons in 2022 (2021: 25,869 metric tons¹). Emissions of ozone-depleting substances as defined by the Montreal Protocol totaled 14 metric tons in 2022 (2021: 18 metric tons¹). Emissions of heavy metals² in 2022 amounted to 4 metric tons (2021: 2 metric tons).

We want to further reduce emissions with various measures. For instance, we use catalysts to reduce nitrogen oxides or feed waste gases back into the production process.

Waste

BASF generated 2.21 million metric tons of waste in 2022 (2021: 2.41 million metric tons¹). Of this, 52.6% was disposed of (2021: 52.4%¹). Hazardous waste accounted for 75.2% of the total disposed waste (2021: 76.9%¹). Based on the concept of the circular economy, we are continuously examining options for material or thermal recycling for all waste (see “Strategy”). In this way, we were able to find new uses for 47.4% of our waste in 2022 (2021: 47.6%¹). We continuously identify and evaluate the safest and most environmentally sound disposal routes for non-recyclable waste. In 2022, most of our hazardous waste was incinerated (75.1%), where possible with energy recovery. 8.0% of hazardous waste was disposed of in landfill. This was mainly contaminated construction waste that cannot be recycled due to legal requirements.

Contaminated sites

We have binding global standards for managing contaminated sites. A worldwide network of experts ensures these are implemented. We develop remediation measures designed to balance nature conservation, climate protection concerns, costs and social responsibility. These solutions take into account the legal framework and current technological standards. Contaminated sites are docu­mented in a database. Ongoing remediation work around the world continued on schedule in 2022 and planning was concluded for further measures.

For more information, see:

• Note 9
• Note 23