18 INTERVIEW
TP: In terms of personal care ingredients, what exactly does digitalisation mean? TK: Together with selling products through the Internet, we offer a lot of market information and transparency about our products, from R&D to delivery. We try to digitalise what’s possible to be digitalised and, at the same time, we free up resources ready to focus on what the machine is not able to do. We’re using our own brains to
develop things together with our customers and to think about how to really close the gap between meeting needs and what we have currently.
TP: What are you excited about the future of personal care ingredients from a scientific point of view? TK: Sustainable bio-based ingredients and formulations with perceivable results. Our teams are working on combining sustainability with perceived performance, together with our customers as well.
TP: Do you mean natural, plant-derived products or next-generation products like fermented products or the lab- grown ingredients? TK: Both. We work with both, and I think we are on a journey. We are learning how.
TP: What is BASF planning in terms of sustainable ingredients? TK: We have a strong commitment to use sustainable resources that are tracked and that are certified via RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). In 2020, we met our commitment to source only RSPO certified, sustainable palm and palm kernel oil. That was a big commitment
with a lot of investment and resources. This year BASF became the first chemical company certified according to the SuCCESS Code for castor oil (Sustainable Castor Caring for Environmental & Social Standards). We are moving in the direction
of finding new resources and new raw materials that allow us to have bio-based, sustainable products together with high performance. We will keep taking care of this one and only world that we have, because we know resources are limited.
TP: Do you have any pilot plants to develop different ingredients that aren’t palm-based?
PERSONAL CARE October 2022
TK: We have labs that develop, on a small scale, new products. These include bio-based products. We also have pilot plants.
One, for example, is located in Holthausen outside Düsseldorf. This allows to develop ingredients from the labs before expanding to industrial scale.
TP: Given the cost implications, do you think non-traditional ingredients developed in a lab have a realistic chance of becoming mainstream and replacing the original? TK: I do believe this. In fact, that’s the push that I believe we’ll get from the market. Probably not 100% (of traditional ingredients) will be replaced but I believe an important part will be replaced. Of course, it will be more expensive but I think the consumers are willing to pay for that. In addition, we could be
creative and try to compensate by reducing other (ingredients) we used in the past but maybe not necessary in the future. This type of creativity really depends on the willingness of the end-consumer to compensate for the higher price. Price will be a topic but I
believe that the market is ready for it and looking for it.
TP: Personal care trends can change very quickly. One year there may be a trend for a multi- phase, complex routine with lots of ingredients, another there may be a trend for minimalism. As the head of personal care for BASF in Europe, how do you manage that change? TK: We need to be ready for all possible options for what end-
consumers demand. We, as a solution provider, not only as a product provider, need to be ready for everything that might come. Of course, demand varies from
region to region. Korea may have a completely different demand from Germany. Different countries have different cultures and that drives a lot of how a personal care market acts.
TP: What trends are you seeing in Europe compared to other regions? TK: Compared with the Americas, where I worked previously, the sustainability topic here in Europe is much, much stronger. We are ahead on this in Europe in terms of products and application. This is the biggest thing that has caught my attention. On the other hand, in terms of digitalisation I would say that the Americas and maybe even Asia is pushing the line. I think this will become more prominent in Europe too.
TP: It’s clear you are thinking a lot about sustainability. How are you thinking about BASF’s personal care business becoming more sustainable in your time as head of the Europe business unit? TK: It’s a combination of factors including production down along the value chain, thinking about how we are sourcing our raw materials and from who we are sourcing our raw materials. So we are looking at Scope 1, 2
& 3 carbon emissions and trying to make it really tangible, not only as a chemicals producer but looking at the value chain overall. As well as looking at carbon emissions, it’s also about energy, water
consumption, waste management. For the personal care market,
the topic of raw materials - transferring or transitioning to bio- based products - is very important. Tracking that and being sure
that we are, in fact, helping the cosmetics industry to be more sustainable, and knowing where we are sourcing the raw material from, and how it’s developed, is a big thing for us. It’s not only about buying
bio-based products, but knowing where it’s produced, how it’s produced and track it because it needs to be sustainable. On top of that, it’s about being
socially responsible because many of those bio-based raw materials come from areas where people really struggle to earn a good living. It’s the whole package.
TP: You mentioned the importance of bio-based ingredients and formulations having perceivable results. For probiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, skin microbiome products and so on, there is some scepticism about whether they really do what is claimed. What is your view on this? TK: We totally believe in developing products for the skin microbiome in a way that brings performance. And we would never bring something to the market that we don’t believe is delivering performance. When we go to market, having
gone through many stages of R&D and production, we guarantee that we are delivering a solution that really brings performance. The combination of quality, performance and sustainability is extremely important for us.
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