NEWS


Study finds 78% of online sales in breach of EU chemical rules


Enforcement authorities acting for ECHA (the European Chemicals Agency) found that 78% of 6,000 products sold online and falling within the scope of REACH, the Classification, Labelling & Packaging (CLP) regula- tion, and/or the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) were non-compliant in at least one. The enforcement programme included professional and consumer products and articles including textiles,


leather, childcare articles, toys and jewellery. It resulted in around 5,000 enforcement actions. Of 2,600 products checked against


requirements for restricted substances, around 1,800 contained carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances (CMRs). Other non-compliances were found relating to phthalates in toys and cadmium in jewellery. CLP non-compliances were mostly related to the lack of information on


BASF reorganises research


BASF is to reorganise its worldwide research activities over the coming year, embedding most business-related research units into its operating divisions to align them more closely to customers’ needs. A centralised research division will take on activities relevant across multiple businesses. “To overcome the challenges of the transformation


towards sustainability at an even faster pace and be successful in the long term, we must further strengthen customer proximity and leverage the advantage of our know-how verbund,” said Dr Melanie Maas-Brunner, Chief Technology Officer.


Above: BASF Chief Technology Officer Dr Melanie Maas-Brunner


BASF has about 10,000 employees working in R&D worldwide and invested €2bn in R&D in 2020. �www.basf.com


Styrolution adds ABS capacity in Europe; sells TPCs to Ensinger


Ineos Styrolution has started production of ABS at its site in Wingles, France, having completed conversion of an existing PS line. The new plant provides capacity of 50,000 tonnes/yr and is expected to supply the construction, compounding, household and automotive markets in Europe. The new ABS line is the company’s third European


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ABS site, joining those already in operation at Antwerp in Belgium and Cologne in Germany. In common with the Antwerp operation, the Wingles line will focus on production of standard Terluran and Lustran brands. Production of PS will continue at the location on other lines. n In a separate move, Styrolution has sold its


COMPOUNDING WORLD | February 2022


StyLight SAN-based thermoplastic composite materials business, which was originally launched in 2016, to German com- pounds and semi-finished material firm Ensinger. The acquired materials will be rebranded as Tecatec, Ensinger’s existing brand in this sector. �www.ineos.com � www.ensingerplastics.com


the hazards of the chemical product in the online advertisement; in 75% of cases this was missing and in others it was not clearly visible. ECHA said 77% of inspected biocidal products were found to be non-compliant with at least one requirement under the BPR, with repellents and attractants the worst offenders and misleading statements the most common failing. � https://echa.europa.eu


Ravago to work with Heartland


Bio-based materials group Heartland, which is building the first industrial hemp supply chain in the US, has concluded a joint development agreement with compounding and recycling firm Ravago Americas with the aim of creating plastic com- pounds incorporating the former’s engineered hemp additives. Heartland expects to be able to process over 45,000 tonnes of hemp additives for plastic compounding applications during the 2022 growing season. The additives are claimed to reduce carbon footprint of virgin plastics by up to 44%. Heartland is now working on verifying the impact of hemp-filled recycled compounds. �www.ravago.com �www.heartland.io


www.compoundingworld.com


IMAGE: BASF


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