18 INTERVIEW
US, it’s the exact opposite. The US FDA says they can only deem inorganic filters to be safe. They don’t make any strong statements yet on organic filters.
TP: But do you think that’ll change? MH: With the FDA it’s always a waiting game to see what they’re going to do. I don’t really see at this point in time any tendency that there will be a dramatic change in the US position.
TP: In terms of manufacturing, take me on a global tour of Clariant’s footprint in personal care, and your recent investments. MH: We’re currently making an investment in China, in the southern area at our production facility called Daya Bay. It’s an 80m Swiss franc ($88m) investment to boost capacity for existing products, as well as the introduction of new products, in personal care and other industries by the end of the year. With that investment, we
will have an asset base capable of producing the full range of products to serve both southeast Asia and mainland China, which we still believe in for growth. Our long-term perspective
is the Chinese economy will recover, consumer demand will increase again, and local brands in China are doing quite well at the
PERSONAL CARE June 2024
“Lucas Meyer Cosmetics will continue to be operated as a global business by Antonio Lara,
like he did as part of IFF” Michael Haspel, global vice president of personal & home care, Clariant
moment. We see China as a bright spot for our longer term strategy. We already have production
sites similar to this in Indonesia, then we also have large facilities in North America, in Europe like Germany and Spain, and also Latin America. We think we have a fully- fledged ability to serve all of our customers globally.
TP: What about India? MH: We have presence in India as well. We have a joint venture with India Glycols called Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals (CISC). This combines IGL’s renewable
bio-ethylene oxide derivatives business, which includes a multipurpose production facility including an alkoxylation plant located in Kashipur, Uttarakhand with Clariant’s local Care Chemicals business in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
TP: Sustainability is obviously a huge mantra in personal care, but how does that affect Clariant makes ingredients? MH: It has an effect on two levels. Firstly, we’re always looking at new ways of making things more
sustainably, whether that could be from a biotech process, or using different raw materials, or lower energy usage processes. A good example is the India
joint venture. We’ve made that investment because they have a source of green ethylene oxide to make non-ionic surfactants; and also some polyglycol. We are promoting those products as high renewable carbon index products; such as our Vita and Terra product lines.
This is something we see
customers gravitating towards, as they also need to meet sustainability requirements. They also look at clean beauty and their brands. Secondly, many brands have
a commitment to having zero amounts of certain products in their portfolio, or having more renewable carbon content, or more plant- based content. And our products help with that. Just to add to that, our
production facility for the UV filters in India is completely zero carbon. We’ve made investments into how they generate their energy to reduce their carbon footprint significantly.
TP: When you’re making new products - sustainable products - is it a case of reconfiguring your existing plant? Or do you have to build new plant? MH: It’s mixed. In some cases, we can adapt the assets. In other cases, we form partnerships or build new assets.
TP: How much of this is driven by regulations, Scope 3 and so on? MH: There’s two drivers. Firstly, there’s commitments made by our customers to improve their sustainability footprints to do the right thing for the environment and also improve the image and reputation of their brands. The second part is the hard
regulation. We know there are carbon taxes in some countries and they will be coming elsewhere. Therefore, people want to buy more sustainable products to avoid as much financial burden as possible.
TP: How much of a burden is Scope 3 on Clariant’s personal care business? MH: Our personal care portfolio is in a good place. We’ve been improving our portfolio for the past five to ten years and it’s just accelerating. Take oleochemicals. We are
now looking at replacing some of what we would call tropical oleochemicals with non-tropical versions. Good examples are our GlucoTain products. What could
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