Finland-headquartered Orthex, a producer of household products that has made sustainability a mindset, is switching to a greener option for its range of SmartStore Compact storage products, the company has announced. The material selected is Ineos Styrolution’s carbon-reduced Luran ECO, a styrene acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN) resulting from a cooperation between Ineos Styrolution and BASF.
BASF produces a styrene monomer derived from renewable feedstock based on a mass balance approach. To do so, it replaces fossil resources like naphtha or natural gas with renewable feedstocks derived from organic waste or vegetable oils. Ineos Styrolutions then uses this styrene monomer to produce sustainable styrenics materials and solutions - mainly transparent styrenics materials such as the company’s NAS family of styrene methyl methacrylate (SMMA) products and the Luran family of SAN products.
The BASF and Ineos Styrolution processes within the end-to-end mass balance based production of the new solution portfolio are certified by ISCC+.
According to an independent third-party assessment, the carbon footprint of the new material is 93% lower compared to the fossil-based Luran version.
“This new raw material solution will support our long-term carbon neutrality target,” said Alexander Rosenlew, CEO of Orthex Group. “Ineos Styrolution and BASF make it possible for us to offer consumers more sustainable products. This supports our target to increase the share of sustainable raw materials in our production to 80% by 2030.”
Orthex will now start using this biomass balance based Luran ECO for its entire SmartStore Compact range of storage solutions. According to the company, the main criteria for selecting this material by Ineos Styrolution were easy processability, compliance with food contact regulations, and a reduced carbon footprint.
Biomass balance - BMB - feedstocks enable raw material and plastic producers like Ineos Styrolution and BASF to offer products with a better environmental profile but the same features as those manufactured from fossil feedstock.
“BMB feedstocks on one side and feedstocks based on chemically recycled plastic waste on the other side, both replacing fossil resources, are a very appealing way to contribute to an improved carbon footprint of subsequent products,” said Stefanie Kutscher, Head of Business Management Styrene at BASF’s Styrenics Business Europe. “Alternative raw materials already in the economic cycle enable us to produce with less virgin fossil raw materials. So, both mass balance approaches aim to achieve the same.”