Clariant’s EcoTain® label creates value as well as reducing impact for a sustainable future in South Africa

• Clariant is committed to creating value for all of its stakeholders by manufacturing sustainable products without compromising on innovation and performance.
• Clariant’s EcoTain® products are economically attractive, offering high cost efficiency through less waste generation and greater recycling opportunities and more efficient processes.

Johannesburg, June 27, 2017 – Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals aims to be a front runner when it comes to raising the bar on environmental and social performance, and moving its business forward while capitalizing on new sustainable opportunities. As the cost of raw materials has increased, the industry is under increasing pressure to find ways of using fewer raw materials and less energy. With this, the chemical giant places the EcoTain® label only on products that have been certified with these four sustainable attributes: Sustainable Design, Responsible Process, Safe & Efficient Use and Eco-Integration.

“Clariant views sustainability as an opportunity to create value as well as reduce impacts. This approach to sustainable innovation is driven by the company’s commitment to protect human, environmental and ecological health without compromising on performance and efficiency. The EcoTain® label assures customers of sustainability at the product level,” states Ravi Chetty, Clariant Southern Africa Head of Country ESHA & Systems Management.

Currently, there are more than 140 of Clariant’s products across the companies four business areas: Care Chemicals, Catalysis, Natural Resources and Plastics & Coatings that have been awarded the EcoTain® label.

As one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies, Clariant not only contributes to value creation with innovative and sustainable solutions for customers from many industries. Through its production facilities, Clariant present solutions that address societal challenges, prioritize occupational safety, employs a comprehensive set of energy management tools to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing costs and our carbon footprint. Listed among the world’s top ten percent of chemical companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), one of the most renowned global sustainability indices, sustainability is a key focus for Clariant around the world and in South Africa.

South Africa is one of only a few emerging-market economies showing a significant increase in placing great importance on sustainability. This is due to the fact that sustainability issues are now impacting the bottom line and are vital to the future ability to meet customer and societal needs. For this reason, Clariant is committed to creating value for all of its stakeholders by addressing the trend to manufacture sustainable products without compromising on innovation and performance.

EcoTain® label makes Clariant’s sustainability efforts more visible

The EcoTain® label distinguishes Clariant products, which achieve best-in-class performance in one or several sustainability criteria and significantly exceed market standards. The label, based on the Portfolio Value Program, which screens products against a strict set of criteria, helps to make Clariant’s sustainability efforts visible to its customers.

So what can the EcoTain® label do for businesses?

• Transparency: Transparency is the basis for trust. This is why Clariant has developed the PVP— the basis for the EcoTain® label—in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. By making the PVP system and its underlying criteria transparent, the sustainability benefits become visible for customers.
• Holism: For us, holism means considering the 3 sustainability dimensions People, Planet and Performance across the entire value chain of a product. This begins with raw material sourcing, development and production, and continues through use and disposal.
• Trust: EcoTain® creates trust. Trust based on the knowledge that sustainability is more than a buzzword at Clariant, on transparent verification, on the criteria applied and on reliability.
• Change: To remain viable in the future and ensure sustainability, we have to continuously evolve as a company. And with the PVP system and the EcoTain® label, we are able to initiate cultural change within Clariant.
• Value: Clariant stands for value and appreciation. EcoTain® products have an extraordinary sustainability profile and customers can highlight their commitment to sustainability.

The EcoTain® concept stands for eco-compatible, economical and socio-economic. EcoTain® registered products are economically attractive, offering high cost efficiency through less waste generation and greater recycling opportunities and more efficient processes. This helps customers to achieve the desired formulation cost target without compromising on formulation properties. Clariant’s R&D efforts are focused on developing new products with low human toxicity, low environmental impact through high biodegradability and low ecotox, and the use of renewable resources. EcoTain® highlights Clariant’s ongoing philosophy of managing its product portfolio and services to customers’ needs as well as the necessity to consequently develop products that are based on a sustainable raw material basis.

Closes Chetty: “With EcoTain® wanted to provide all our Business Units – Oil and Mining, Industrial & Consumer Specialties, Functional Mineral, Masterbatches, Pigments, Additives and Catalysts – with a solid, transparent and credible tool that would enable Clariant to differentiate in the market. This is a transparent and credible system with clearly defined, standardized, company-wide criteria to assess the sustainability of our product portfolio for continuous improvement through innovation.”

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