Sustainability has always been intrinsic to Trinseo. An essential component of our core values, it has shaped our business strategy and influenced every decision we make as a company. This has consequentially impacted the Latex Binders’ business, strengthening our commitment to drive long-term positive change with our global customers in the CASE, paper and board, and textiles and carpet industries.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed the strides we have made towards sustainability, increasing our sustainably advantaged offerings, and diversifying our portfolio. In this article, I will discuss the progress made by the Latex Binders’ division and how we are tracking our efforts against the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Measuring our Progress
At Trinseo, our sustainability strategy is often guided by global initiatives, which includes the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Designed to be a “blueprint” to achieve greater sustainability, the UN SDGs are one of many tools Trinseo uses to measure and direct our sustainability efforts. For example, the UN SDGs helped inspire our company’s 2030 Sustainability Goals, which include a focus on building a sustainable workforce with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, leveraging clean energy in our product portfolio, operating in a way that responsibly consumes resources, and helps combat climate change.
Looking specifically at our production and climate change goals, we are continuously evaluating how our Latex Binders products impact the environment and subsequently are developing innovative solutions that result in products designed to minimize environmental impact. From a production standpoint, we are focused on aspects such as reduced waste generation, reduced energy consumption, and increased use of renewable energy.
On the application side, many of our products are used in applications that contribute to a more sustainable future, such as our latex binders that enable high performance Li-ion batteries for e-mobility. To ensure these efforts will keep us on track to realize our sustainability goals, we monitor our respective innovation resources, investment and product sales and the sustainability landscape on a global scale, working closely with our customers to prioritize our focus areas.
Expanding Our Sustainable Offerings
Using the UN SDGs as guideposts for our efforts, the Latex Binders portfolio has been carefully curated to offer our customers a range of smart, advanced sustainable solutions with desirable performance properties that promote responsible production and minimize climate impact. Examples of this include polymer solutions derived from renewable feedstock to reduce the carbon footprint of the value chain or formaldehyde-free solutions to enable better health for our communities. That’s why we’re focused on offering materials that meet and exceed industry performance requirements, enable recycling processes and solutions, and are free from undesired substances addressing the ever-evolving needs of our value chain partners.
This year we are expanding our offerings to include polymers with both, bio- and recycled content using the ISCC-certified Mass Balance approach. We are on track to have two Latex Binders assets certified in Europe still in 2021 and will continue this journey in 2022. This approach allows the industry to scale polymers utilizing biomass and recycled derived building blocks near-term, utilizing existing infrastructure. We are continuing this work by focusing on innovative solutions that drive down the carbon footprint and are collaborating closely with industry partners.
The UN SDGs and other international sustainability guidance are in place to keep us all accountable and direct our collective efforts for the greater good. By tracking our progress and striving to align our efforts, we can continue to make a meaningful impact by developing innovative and circular solutions. And through further collaboration with value chain partners, we will expand our offerings and better meet our customers’ evolving sustainability needs. Our Latex Binders’ team is determined to be part of the solution, helping to create a more sustainable tomorrow for future generations.