Archroma releases 3rd Sustainability Report

In its 3^rd Sustainability Report, Archroma reveals the way forward, the challenges the past year held for it, and the proactive actions and innovative solutions it created for its discerning customers around the world. As a global specialty chemicals company, Archroma takes its drive to continue to deliver specialized performance products that are innovative and eco-friendly, seriously. The SSTA brings you the highlights of the report.

Excerpts:

Operating in over 35 countries through 25 production sites, Archroma is known globally for being a responsible specialty chemicals company that innovates, creates, manufactures and sells its products to 101 countries. Its 3 core business divisions are Brand & Performance Textile Specialties (BPT), Packaging & Paper Specialties (PP) and Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants (CAS).

Headquartered in Reinach near Basel, Switzerland, Archroma has been challenging the status quo in the industry to make it sustainable. It is an approach that is reflected in its innovations, world class quality standards, high service levels and cost-efficiency.

Heike van de Kerkhof, CEO says: “Over 7 years of our existence, Archroma has helped drive the sustainability agenda forward in the industry and the end-use market. In FY 2019 alone, Archroma launched 7 new innovations and more than 25 new solution systems were developed along the lines of what we call “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”.

Safe, Efficient & Enhanced World – The Archroma Way

SAFE – It’s our nature to protect. Our products are safe to use, safe to release and also safe to wear.

EFFICIENT – It’s our nature to rethink sustainable manufacturing. We innovate application processes that minimize resources and maximize productivity, in the manufacturing of both ours and our customers’.

ENHANCED – It’s our nature to add another level of value. Innovation is critical. With it, we create additional effects, functionalities and aesthetics and sustainable differentiation to bring additional value, helping consumers to achieve their goals, for a life enhanced.

The Archroma Way focuses on reducing the consumption of natural resources, thereby decreasing our customers’ environmental footprint.

Archroma’s Sustainable World

As our chemicals and colorants travel through the supply chain, the impact of a single kilogram of an Archroma product can grow exponentially as it helps transform fibre to yarn to textile to finished product.

James Carnahan, Head – Sustainability shares: “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World has the Archroma leadership constantly challenging the organization to rethink the way we operate. Nature needs us, which is why we say that creating safe, efficient, and enhanced innovations and solutions, it is our nature!”

Archroma’s total revenue for FY 2019 was US$ 1.340 bn which reflects a decrease by 4.2% as against the previous reporting period. The quantity of goods sold also decreased slightly to 551000 metric tons.

Driving Change

Archroma, as a member of the United Nations Global Compact, supports commitment to implement universal sustainability principles and the goals by aligning strategies and operations with the universal principles of the United Nations Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption; and to take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.

In June 2019, we joined the ZDHC Foundation (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) as an active contributor, aiming to support the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL) and the related conformity system designed to eliminate duplicative and counterproductive approaches to lists and standards.

Eco-friendly Products

We have introduced many innovations such as Helizarin® LTC New liq, Lurapret® N5396 & N5392 liq, Foron® SP-WF dyes, Diresul® Smartdenim Blue, Fadex® AS New, and Appretan® NTR.

Manufacturing processes are developed in line with the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry – safer solvents 6 auxiliaries, real time pollution prevention, safer chemistry for accident prevention, waste prevention, atom economy, design for energy efficient, design for degradation, designing safer chemicals, less hazardous synthesis, renewable feedstocks, catalysis and reduce derivatives.

Sustainable Sourcing

For Archroma, sustainable sourcing is critical, not only in terms of the raw material conformance to specification (quality), but also product hazardous chemical contamination that directly affects the safety of our products and the environmental pollution in production and when in use.

Andreas Wester, Chief Procurement Officer elaborates: “By measuring and monitoring our suppliers, we are able to support only those companies that have invested in a responsible manner in their organization, their employees and their products and technologies. This is how we can positively influence our upstream industries, only creating demand for sustainable suppliers.”

Used Water Disposal

During the reporting period, Archroma discharged a total of 6.88 million m3 of water of which 83% was discharged to surface water after suitable treatment to ensure conformity to the local requirements. The remainder is discharged to third party effluent treatment sites for further processing before being discharged to surface water. The total discharge represents 78% of total water withdrawn for operations.

Water as a Resource

Water use is closely monitored within the Environmental Management process. From a total withdrawal perspective, the water intensity use during the reporting period equates to an average of 19.63 m3 per ton of production. This represents a 6.4% increase over the previous reporting period.

Our medium-term target for 2023 is to reduce the water intensity to 16.6 m3 per ton of production.

Energy as a Resource

The total amount of energy consumed by Archroma for FY 2019 was 1146 TJ – a 15% decrease from FY 2018.

Andreas Wickli, Senior Vice President – Operations shares: “Increasing the efficiency of our own production has a positive impact on our economic and environmental sustainability. Buying electricity from renewable sources is a good way to reduce our CO₂ footprint and make our own products more sustainable.”

Our medium-term target for 2023 will be to reduce energy intensity to 2.39 GJ per ton of production.

Access Archroma’s 3^rd Sustainable Report at: https://www.archroma.com/sustainability.

BLURB:“The Archroma Way focuses on reducing the consumption of natural resources, thereby decreasing our customers’ environmental footprint.”