COP26 Voices

Mark Downing, Site Manager Widnes and Littlehampton

My sustainability passion

At work and at home I am passionate about addressing food waste. We know our world’s resources are limited and we know that our global population is growing. Using the land we have responsibly, to grow the crops we need efficiently and effectively is a must. And once we’ve grown those crops, we need to respect them. We should not be losing that precious food. Both the BASF sites I manage are intimately connected to the food chain and in their own way address the challenge of food waste along the supply chain. At Littlehampton we produce low CO₂ biofertilisers that help increase crop yield and biopesticides that control plant pests to help maximise plant yield. At our Widnes site we produce rodenticides which can keep rat and mouse populations under control, helping to reduce waste throughout the food chain, whether that be protecting the crops in the field, during harvest time, whilst they are in storage or preventing crops being spoiled.

My hope for COP26

I want to see some creative passion from our global leaders at COP26, I would like to see the ‘democratisation of change’. What I mean by that is that I would like our leaders to encourage their citizens to act locally, so small behavioural changes by everyone will be in effect the start of changes we all want to see.

My hope for my friends, family and colleagues

I have started small and made a commitment to examine my own food waste. I encourage my friends, family and colleagues to do the same and ask yourself what can you do to reduce food waste? Buy only what you know you will eat, avoid bulk buy ‘bargains’ that could end up in the bin and support your local growers where you can. Small steps taken together will certainly make a difference.