BASF brings community together at Chongqing site

• Over 300 visitors including employees’ families, customers, suppliers, local community and the public
• Guided site tour helps stakeholders understand site safety, production systems, environmental protection measures

Chongqing, China – May 19, 2018 – BASF today invited more than 300 representatives from 130 households in the Changshou District and Chongqing Municipality to an Open Day at its production site in Chongqing.  Through a guided tour around the site, visitors were able to learn about the state-of-the-art production process, reliable automated control systems, and high standard of safety and environmental protection measures at this world-class methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production site.

“We are delighted to open our doors and welcome stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds. We hope that, through this open day, our neighbors and the public will understand BASF’s efforts in combining economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. We are here to invest and grow with the community,” said Marko Murtonen, Vice President, General Manager, BASF Polyurethanes (Chongqing) Co. Ltd. “This year in particular, we are also engaging more representatives from peer companies in Changshou, sharing our practices and knowledge to enable a better community where we operate.”

MDI is an important component for polyurethanes which are used in all aspects of daily life, such as automotive, coastal protection, sports and leisure, construction insulation, transportation and footwear. As a highlight of the Open Day, kids learned more about this versatile material through a simple, safe, hands-on foaming experiment. This enables visitors to understand how chemistry is closely related to daily life.  

Since the construction of MDI project in Chongqing in 2011, BASF has invited voluntary members with various backgrounds from the nearby community to join a Community Advisory Panel (CAP). This panel aims to facilitate a regular and open dialogue with the company’s management team on the company’s operation status and other topics. In 2015, BASF donated a brand-new hazmat truck – a fire-fighting engine customized to handle a wide variety of hazardous materials – to the public fire-fighting station at Chongqing Changshou Economic and Technological Development Area, to help upgrade its fire-fighting equipment and competence. Additionally, BASF has held Kids’ Lab, a free and interactive science education program, together with Chongqing Science & Technology Museum (CQSTM). Held on an annual basis over the past five years, the program has inspired over 5,000 children aged 6-12 in Chongqing to discover the world of chemistry.

 

About BASF in Greater China

BASF has been a committed partner to Greater China since 1885. With investments in Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing, BASF is a major foreign investor in China’s chemical industry, and maintains the Innovation Campus Shanghai as a global and regional research and development hub.  BASF posted sales of €7.3 billion in 2017 to customers in Greater China, and employed 8,982 people as of the end of that year. For further information, please visit www.basf.com.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The more than 115,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of €64.5 billion in 2017. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com.