HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 89

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HP: How did CP Chem
institutionalize sustainability
within your organization?
JB: One of the simple but powerful
things we did was work sustainability
directly into our company's strategy. We
do it in two places. First, we have a new
tagline: Performance by design, caring by
choice. Combined with the company's tagline
is a direct corporate strategy of proactively
helping the world find solutions
to sustainability.
Secondly, we have created resources to
address sustainability, along with raising
the profile of sustainability to the Vice
President level, with elevated sustainability
positions in Asia, Europe and the
U.S., as well as a sustainability technical
manager and a sustainability policy and
program manager, among others. This
program is not housed only in the sustainability
group. The leadership team at
CP Chem has a clear interest in this issue,
as well as operations teams at all of our
company's process plants.
Sustainability has drawn lots of interest
from our employees, as well. They
are excited about it and have had many
questions on the issue, such as: What is
the company doing about sustainability?
To educate our personnel, the company's
communications and sustainability teams
developed an information package called
Plastics and You.
HP: What will it take to solve
the problem of plastic waste
in our lifetime?
JB: That is a big question-one that
does not come with a quick answer. I can
tell you some of the things that have to be
done. Those include:
1. We need to clean up the waste that
is there now. This is one area where
the AEPW is focusing its efforts.
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2. Infrastructure. Different parts
of the world are at very different
stages in dealing with plastic waste.
Many places around the world-
primarily in Africa and Asia-do
not have the infrastructure to deal
with plastic waste. For example,
it is not an issue of somebody not
wanting to place their waste in
a trash bin-they may not have
trash bins. If they have trash bins,
they may not have anywhere to
take them or a system in place to
manage waste removal. We must
further develop infrastructure in
countries that do not have it. In
developed regions such as Europe
and the U.S., the infrastructure
could be more robust in terms of
collection and sorting.
3. Innovation. As previously
mentioned, chemical recycling
is fairly new in the world of
sustainability. Chemical recycling
plants are very small and very
entrepreneurial. Our industry
needs to find a way to scale up
these production plants. How do
you make this on a much larger
industrial scale? How do you make
it more efficient and reliable? All
of those things will need to happen
to grow the chemical recycling
industry. A lot of innovation is
being fostered. Take product design.
How do you make products that are
more recyclable? Many consumer
product companies and converters
are working hard on this challenge
and trying to find a solution that
will retain the properties, while
making it more recyclable. It is
a crucial engineering challenge.
Another area needing innovation
is sorting material for mechanical
recycling. An efficient mechanism
needs to be put in place. New
techniques are happening, but more
innovation is needed.
4. Consumer education. This solution
is not only about educating the
consumer on recycling but also
how to recycle and the products
that are recyclable. Many nations
around the world will need
significant education on recycling.
Ultimately, education will make the
consumer part of the solution.
It will be a long process, but it is a
problem that is solvable. We are an industry
of problem solvers. The issue of
sustainability is squarely on the radar
screen for companies and people around
the world. We have, and will continue to
see, significant progress in this area. It is
a problem that our industry, along with
others, can solve, which will change the
world for future generations.
LITERATURE CITED
1
R. Lord, et. al., " Plastics and sustainability: A valuation
of environmental benefits, costs and opportunities
for continuous improvement, " American
Chemistry Council and Trucost, July 2016.
Hydrocarbon Processing | MARCH 2020 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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