Solvay SA executive Dominique Debecker will give a keynote address on sustainability at the upcoming SPE 2018 International Polyolefins Conference in Houston.
Debecker, the deputy chief sustainability officer at Brussels-based Solvay, will share insight on the role of UV stabilizers in a circular economy. The address, titled “the Solvay Way for Sustainability,” will cover ways to integrate sustainability into business strategy and how the firm is helping pave the way toward a circular economy via innovation in UV stabilization technology.
That transition from a linear to a circular economy represents the shift to a model that is more sustainable and economic, officials said in a news release. The conference is set for Feb. 25-28.
In the release, Solvay Additive Technologies Senior Vice President Domenico Romanino added that the plastics industry “is looking for solutions that meet their evolving sustainability needs” and that Solvay's efforts to improve polyolefin durability “will help us continue supporting our customers as they seek to accelerate the acceptance of polyolefins in new markets and applications.”
Solvay's UV stabilizers are sold under the Cyasorb trade name. The materials stabilizers protect the physical and appearance properties of plastics from UV light exposure. They also optimize resource efficiency by increasing the service life of plastics, officials said, which reduces plastic production and associated waste.
Earlier this year, Solvay signed a three-year global partner agreement with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an anti-plastic waste campaigner and circular economy charity. Solvay CEO Jean-Pierre Clamadieu said at the time that the circular economy was becoming increasingly important for the firm's businesses and customers who are asking Solvay to bring solutions to the table that meet their sustainability needs.
Other EMF partners include Danone, Google, H&M, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nike, Inc, Philips, Renault and Unilever.
Solvay employs 27,000 worldwide, making a wide range of specialty chemicals and plastics. The firm has annual sales of more than $11 billion.
