Month: June 2023

I’ve written before on supporting diversity in the workplace and the idea that “no one can do everything, but everyone can do something.” Recently, I was asked to share what I’ve learned from my own experiences — as a female engineer for the first 10 years of my career and as a woman in leadership — and how my past informs how I encourage diversity in my role with Keysight.

Here are a few life lessons that continue to shape me and how I show up as a leader.

“The first rule of any game is to know you’re in one.”
— Sandy Lerner, Cisco founder

I loved being an engineer. I enjoyed the work and the challenges. I found the problem-solving to be very creative and satisfying.

However, it was clear that there were headwinds for me as a woman that my male counterparts didn’t face. I am certainly not alone in this, and no one was consciously holding me back. But being the only woman in my first group out of university made it harder to build a network and get peer support. Even simple things like not playing golf widened that gap. Many men who were equally qualified and performing equally well were getting paid more and getting promoted ahead of me.

That’s when I realized I was in a game — one with rules but no rulebook — and I would have to figure my way through it.

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
— Milton Berle, comedian

I stayed in that original group for several years, mainly out of loyalty. I worked hard and did a good job. I took on development challenges and learned a lot. However, eventually, I knew that the environment wasn’t working for me, and I needed to “build a door.”

I moved into another engineering group in the same company that had two important advantages. There were already a few women there, and my new manager took an interest in my work and my development. He encouraged me to get my MBA, which led me on the path toward technical marketing and eventually my current role as CMO. There, I found true teammates, where our work and talent would move us forward. And I vowed to bring others along with me as I progressed.

“Authenticity doesn’t just mean you’re not filtering what you’re saying. It’s about being able to know and access the best parts of yourself and bring them forward.”
— Amy Cuddy, social psychologist

On one hand, trying to be what I thought others wanted me to be was never going to work. On the other hand, a big part of the game was how I showed up at work — and understanding how that would influence how well I did. I worked on becoming more self-aware about how I was being perceived. I even joined Toastmasters to get better at communicating. My reward for my effort was to find a way to be both authentic and a successful contributor to the team.

To this day, as a group leader, I strive to communicate implicitly and explicitly that this is a place where it’s OK to be yourself. Explicitly, I meet with new hires to share stories and let them know that it’s OK to think outside the box and share their ideas. I let my teams know it’s OK to be silly sometimes. It’s OK to share about your home life and culture if you want. And we all represent the Keysight brand, so we are both professional and diverse. Implicitly, I am my “what you see is what you get” self, and I hope that helps people feel comfortable being themselves.

As a result, I see a virtuous circle for the team and our business. When our people feel safe to be who they are, they step up and bring more diverse ideas for how we represent our brand. Then, as they see how we represent our brand growing more diverse, it encourages the team to go further.

“One lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.”
— Diane Sawyer, American broadcast journalist

Getting back to the game analogy, sometimes I feel like my journey with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is like a video game. If you do it right, at some point, you level up. And when you get to a new level, you’re in a new environment with new operating rules. That’s when you need to pay attention. What was OK to say or do before may no longer be the best way to proceed. We simply need to be open to changes and learn to thrive together.

What I’ve learned from my direct experiences is just a fraction of what I’ve learned from others. When I started as the sponsor of Keysight’s LGBTQA+ employee networking group, I wasn’t sure how much I could ask people about themselves, but they quickly put me at ease — sharing about their home lives, career challenges and how life is different through an LGBTQ lens. They helped me level up and get a new perspective. And don’t get me started about how quickly my teenage daughters will correct me if I do the wrong thing in their eyes! Still, they are the way of the future and have taught me as much as I have taught them.

I am fortunate to have so many aspects of my life that continue to teach me about diversity, equity, and inclusion. I have to give credit to Keysight for valuing social responsibility, including DEI, as part of Keysight’s Leadership Model. I believe it makes this a better place to be for everyone, as well as helping us to bring our best game to work.

View the full LyondellBasell 2022 Sustainability Report.

Plastics are essential in providing solutions to tomorrow’s challenges. As lightweight, hygienic and durable materials, they play a vital role in products used around the globe, every day. Innovative plastic materials help to keep food fresh longer so it can be safely stored and transported long distances, reducing food waste. These materials also provide safe, high-quality solutions for healthcare. Plastics are key to the energy transition, from the latest automotive components that enable vehicle lightweighting, to integral components for wind turbines and solar panels.

Unfortunately, the mismanagement of plastic waste has reached a tipping point. Society, governments and industry are accelerating efforts to close the loop and prevent plastic leakage to the environment, keeping plastics circulating in the economy through recycling and reuse. We believe circularity is critical to helping end plastic waste, and it also offers strong economic, social and climate benefits.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,1 achieving a circular economy for plastics by 2040 has the potential to reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80%, reduce GHG emissions by 25%, generate a savings of $200 billion per year, and create 700,000 net additional jobs.1

LyondellBasell is leading change, fostering innovative products and technologies that will unlock a circular and low carbon economy. In September 2022, we announced our new Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business to deliver on our ambition to produce and market at least 2 million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030. This goal represents approximately 20% of our global sales of PE and PP in 2022.

The role of public policy

Effective public policies are essential to address the plastic waste challenge and advance a circular economy. We support legislation and policy to:

Advance waste management systems, infrastructure and recycling standards.Increase the reuse and recycling of plastic.Support the introduction of new recycling technologies needed to complement existing mechanical recycling technologies.Strengthen demand for recycled plastics.Promote the use of renewable-based plastics.Inform consumers and incentivize responsible consumer behavior to recycle and reduce plastic waste.

OUR GOALS

Produce and market at least 2 million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030For every dollar we invest in venture funds that address the plastic waste challenge, we help catalyze another five dollars from co-investorsZero loss of plastic pellets to the environment from our operations

OUR APPROACH

Expand our recycling capacity globallyAccelerate the development and implementation of scalable recycling technologies, including our advanced recycling technology, MoReTecOptimize the value chain for circularity by building integrated regional hubs to access and supply plastic waste feedstockInvest along our value chain to become a full-solution provider for customers and brand ownersGrow our Circulen portfolio of recycled and renewable-based productsCatalyze investments from venture funds’ partners to increase the recovery and recycling of plastic and accelerate technology and other solutions to end plastic wasteSupport effective policies and infrastructure development to improve plastic waste management and recycling through engagement with governments and industry peers

OUR GOAL: PRODUCE AND MARKET AT LEAST 2 MILLION METRIC TONS OF RECYCLED AND RENEWABLE-BASED POLYMERS ANNUALLY BY 2030

Achieving this ambitious goal will require a range of actions to secure access to plastic waste feedstock and build our capacity to produce more recycled and renewable-based products. Our new Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business is focused on securing feedstock supply, growing our recycling footprint and developing scalable technologies to grow our Circulen portfolio of products.

CirculenRecover: Products made from plastic waste through a mechanical recycling process. This type of recycling upgrades plastic waste into usable materials through mechanical processes including sorting, washing, grinding, melting and forming new pellets. The resulting polymers can also be blended or compounded with traditional fossil-based products, allowing us to deliver high-quality polymers with an optimal balance of performance characteristics and mechanically- recycled content. These polymers can be used in a wide variety of industrial, household and consumer product applications.

CirculenRevive: Products made using an advanced recycling process to convert plastic waste back to its molecular level, which is then used as a feedstock in our conventional production processes to produce new polymers. A broad range of plastics can be recycled using this process including hard-to-recycle items such as mixed materials, composites, multilayer and flexible plastics. The advanced recycled feedstock is mixed with conventional feedstocks in our process, and allocated to CirculenRevive products using a mass balance approach certified according to the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS standard. These polymers can be used in highly regulated applications such as food contact and healthcare.

CirculenRenew: Products made from renewable feedstocks derived from bio-based wastes and residual oils, such as used cooking oils. These feedstocks are used in our conventional production processes along with conventional feedstocks, and are allocated to CirculenRenew products using an ISCC PLUS-certified mass balance approach. The use of renewable feedstocks offers a lower carbon footprint compared to fossil-based feedstocks. These polymers can also be used in highly regulated applications such as food contact and healthcare.

Expanding our mechanical recycling capacity globally
In 2022, we took steps to boost our mechanical recycling capacity while supporting the development of plastics recycling infrastructure in India and China. With these steps, our mechanical recycling footprint will encompass joint ventures in Europe, India and China.

In India, we announced plans to form a joint venture with Shakti Plastic Industries, India’s largest plastic scrap recycler and waste collection company, to build and operate a fully automated mechanical recycling plant. The plant is intended to process rigid packaging post-consumer waste and produce 50,000 metric tons of recycled PE and PP per year, equivalent to the single- use plastic waste produced by 12.5 million people. Our concept is that the new facility will become the largest mechanical recycling plant in India with an estimated start at the end of 2024. LyondellBasell will market the recycled products produced by this joint venture adding volume to its CirculenRecover range of existing PE and PP materials to help meet increasing demand by converters and brand owners in India for recycled polymer materials.

In China, we announced plans to form a joint venture with Genox Recycling to build a plastics recycling plant in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province. Genox Recycling is a leading manufacturer for integrated service providers of the solid waste treatment industry in China. This facility has a planned start-up date in 2023 and will use mechanical recycling technology to process post-consumer PE and PP waste and produce new polymers sold under the LyondellBasell CirculenRecover product portfolio.

LyondellBasell is currently a joint venture partner with Veolia in Quality Circular Polymers (QCP), an industry-leading mechanical recycling company with a production capacity of 55,000 metric tons per year. The QCP site in Geleen, the Netherlands, produces high-quality polymers from post-consumer plastic waste. Both pre-consumer and post-consumer waste are processed at the QCP Blandain, Belgium, site.

Implementing advanced recycling technology at commercial scale
We began focusing on advanced recycling in 2017 as a complementary solution to mechanical recycling because it can address hard-to-recycle plastics that end up inincineration or landfill`s. We collaborated with Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to develop our proprietary MoReTec technology, which uses a catalyst to improve the breakdown of plastic waste. This technology allows us to convert post-consumer plastic waste into pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis gas for use in our crackers as feedstock for the production of new polymer materials.

The differential advantage of MoReTec technology is the combination of scale with leading energy efficiency and a lower GHGfootprint, compared with other advanced recycling technologies. The technology’s innovative process maximizes the plastic recycling rate while minimizing waste and fuels. In the future, opportunities for the process to be powered by renewable electricity will further reduce the carbon footprint of this technology.

The start-up of our pilot plant in Ferrara, Italy, in 2020 and its expansion in 2021 were important milestones as we improved the efficiency and economics of the technology.

In 2022, we announced plans to move forward with the engineering phase to build a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant using our MoReTec technology at our site in Wesseling, Germany. Pending a final investment decision in 2023, the start-up of the plant is planned for the end of 2025 with a capacity to consume 50,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year. A material part of the feedstock will be provided by Source One Plastics, our joint venture with 23 Oaks Investment. (See “Investing upstream to secure access to plastic waste feedstock” below.)

Offering renewable-based polymers globally

In 2022, we continued to offer PP and PE with mass balance certificates or measurable carbon-14 content from renewable feedstocks, following our introduction of these polymers at commercial scale in 2021. The renewable feedstocks can be used in our existing manufacturing process. They are also ISCC PLUS- certified as sustainably sourced and not in competition with the food chain. The renewable feedstock is produced from 100% bio-based waste and residues, such as used cooking oils. These polymers offer a lower carbon footprint compared with fossil-based polymers, are manufactured in Europe and the U.S. and marketed globally under the CirculenRenew brand.

Investing upstream to secure access to plastic
waste feedstock
We are also investing upstream in state-of-the-art sorting units to secure access to plastic waste feedstock, with facilities planned in the U.S. and Germany.

In 2022, we formed a joint venture with 23 Oaks Investments to build an energy-efficient, advanced plastics sorting facility in Germany. Using renewable energy from wind and biomass, the new unit is designed to process the amount of plastic packaging waste generated by approximately 1.3 million German people per year. This waste is not recycled today and is mostly incinerated. The Source One Plastics facility will produce processed waste, providing a material part of the feedstock for the advanced recycling plant planned at our Wesseling site using our proprietary MoReTec technology.

We also signed an agreement with Cyclyx International and ExxonMobil to advance the development of a plastic waste sorting and processing facility in the greater Houston area. The new facility will address a critical missing link in the plastic waste supply chain by connecting community recycling programs to new and more advanced recycling technologies that have the potential to take a much wider variety of plastic materials. With a designed capacity of 150,000 metric tons of mixed plastic waste and commercial start-up expected in 2024, the Cyclyx Circularity Center will be unique among plastic recovery facilities, producing feedstock for both mechanical and advanced recycling. The center will leverage new technologies to analyze plastics based on their composition and sort them according to customer specifications for their highest and best reuse.

LyondellBasell, Cyclyx and ExxonMobil are members of the Houston Recycling Collaboration, a collaboration that brings together government, industry and the community to significantly increase Houston’s plastics recycling rate and help establish the city as a leader for both mechanical and advanced recycling processes. The Houston Recycling Collaboration announced the launch of its first specific project, a new plastic collection program at the Kingwood Recycling Center expanding the materials accepted for recycling to include nearly all plastics. The program launched on December 10, 2022, and collected 3,900 pounds of plastic waste in the first weekend.

Collaborating across the value chain to grow our Circulen product offering
We entered into a long-term supply agreement with Envision Plastics to purchase mechanically recycled high-density polyethylene post- consumer resin (HDPE PCR) for use in CirculenRecover products in North America.

The HDPE PCR is made from curbside-collected, post-consumer food and beverage containers and is especially unique because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows it to be used for direct food contact. CirculenRecover polymers include a range of formulated single pellet solutions, combining fossil-based resin with PCR, that can be used in a wide variety of applications.

Innovating solutions for food-grade recycled PP
PP is the most widely used polymer in food packaging, but closing the loop on food-grade PP is a challenge. In 2022, LyondellBasell joined NEXTLOOPP, an initiative that brings together more than 40 major industry players to develop circular food-grade recycled PP from post-consumer packaging. NEXTLOOPP is able to close the loop on PP by using a combination of cutting-edge technologies, developed by Nextek Ltd. It does this by separating food- grade PP from the rest, and decontaminating the polymer. Following outstanding results of its innovative tracer-based sorting trials, Nextek Ltd. recently started production trials of food- grade compliant recycled PP.

View the full LyondellBasell 2022 Sustainability Report.

For information about the factors that could impact our forward-looking statements, please see page two of the LyondellBasell Sustainability Report.

June 13, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) has published a significant update on regulatory barriers related to healthcare plastic waste recycling in the European Union (EU) in the form of a foundational paper.

Building on insights from the previously published Barriers to Recycling Healthcare Plastics project, this whitepaper aims to provide an understanding of legislative barriers to recycling healthcare plastics, specifically those applicable to the handling of hazardous healthcare waste.

The foundational paper presents the insights gained during this research by answering the following research question:

“How can barriers to the recyclability of hazardous and non-hazardous healthcare plastic waste be identified and addressed, in relation to healthcare system practices and regulations in selected European countries?”

This research has been conducted in collaboration with Aalborg University in Denmark and aims to understand the current regulations on hospital waste in various EU countries. Corporate Research Fellow at Sartorius and HPRC project lead, Magali Barbaroux, shared, “To answer the question we asked them, the students combined enthusiasm, method, and critical thinking and did not hesitate to challenge us.”

“The purpose of the project was to identify where we can see regulatory barriers, use phase barriers and end of life barriers to sustainability with a European context,” shared Mary Corcoran, Regulatory Affairs Manager at Amcor and project co-lead, “Collaboration with Aalborg University and the hospitals in question provided some interesting results that we can further investigate in future projects. The students were very invested and provided a lot of food for thought through their research. “

The goal of this whitepaper is to contribute to advancing the circular economy of plastics in the healthcare industry. In order to create scalable solutions advancing a circular economy, the various barriers, including legislation, to sorting and recycling need to be identified and researched in depth.

Download The Full White Paper Here

HPRC is currently engaged in multiple initiatives across the US and Europe aimed at enabling the recycling and circularity of healthcare plastics. Current project work includes research into advanced recycling technologies to recycle mixed-stream healthcare plastics; a study of reverse logistics processes for collecting, segregating, and preparing healthcare plastic waste for transport; and design guidance to improve the recyclability of medical packaging and products.

About HPRC 

HPRC is a private technical coalition of industry peers across healthcare, recycling, and waste management industries seeking to improve the recyclability of plastic products within healthcare. Made up of brand-leading and globally recognized members, HPRC explores ways to enhance the economics, efficiency, and ultimately the quality and quantity of healthcare plastics collected for recycling. HPRC is active across the United States and Europe working with key stakeholders, identifying opportunities for collaboration, and participating in industry events and forums. For more information, visit www.hprc.org and follow HPRC on LinkedIn.

Every year on June 8th, World Oceans Day provides a global platform to raise awareness about the value of our oceans and the critical need for their protection. One thing is for certain: oceans are vital to our existence.

The importance of our oceans and coral reefs

Oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and is home to up to 80% of all life in the world. Oceans also generate 50% of the oxygen we need, absorb 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions, and capture 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions. However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, increasing greenhouse gas emissions are affecting the health of the ocean (e.g. warming and acidifying seawater), so reducing the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide and safeguard life on the planet.

This year, we are focusing our attention on one of nature’s most amazing marvels: coral reefs. These ecosystems play a vital role in sustaining marine life, capturing CO2 and mitigating the effects of global warming, presenting an opportunity to form part of an enterprise’s overall plan to address its sustainability goals and reduce its impact on the environment.

Why is preserving current coral reefs and building engineered reefs important? Almost one billion people depend entirely on healthy coral reefs for their livelihoods. More than 60% of the global population depends entirely on seafood for all protein intake and more than 25% of all life in the planet’s oceans starts as a direct result of healthy coral reefs.

Nowadays, human activities and climate change are pushing these delicate ecosystems to the brink of collapse. If no significant action is taken, 90% of all coral reefs are predicted to be extinct by 2050.

The responsibility of businesses to reduce global emissions

To make the greatest impact, we all need to work together, including businesses. Businesses today have greater responsibility than providing a return to investors; they have a role to play in helping reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

According to a recent IBM Institute for Business Value survey, 95% of surveyed global executives say their organizations have developed ESG propositions. However, many of these organizations lack a clear pathway to realizing their goals and 41% of surveyed executives cite inadequate data as their biggest obstacle to ESG progress.

While the numerous environmental challenges we face are daunting, we have reason to be optimistic. Technology, when harnessed effectively, can provide innovative solutions such as those that help to protect and restore reefs. We also know that building a more sustainable world will require strong partnerships. One such collaboration exists between IBM and The Reef Company.

Collaborating for coral reef restoration

IBM and The Reef Company have recently joined forces signing a joint initiative agreement aimed at bolstering their ocean conservation endeavors. The Reef Company is on a mission to build 2.500 engineered reefs, covering an average area of 50Km2 each, with a total investment of USD 500 Billion. The primary objective of this grand project is to restore and revitalize the marine ecosystem, sustaining the invaluable ecosystem of services nature offers, including carbon capture. Together with IBM’s support, the aim is leveraging data from the ocean and technology, and taking the project to the next level.

The Reef Company designs reef modules, which are engineered with low-carbon impact materials and are manufactured locally. These building blocks create the foundation for new underwater habitats, and enable marine life (flora and fauna) to thrive whilst serving as a hotspot for marine biodiversity. The reefs are also equipped with the BluBoxx™ ocean data platform, and can be adapted to different environments to monitor and collect a wide range of ocean data.

The BluBoxx™ solution works with various sensors and cameras, which are fed via surface solar panels, used to measure salinity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, pressure, and carbon dioxide. BluBoxx™ also enables data transmission from the subsea sensor collection devices to the surface. The data is then uploaded into the cloud platform which extracts valuable insights that are used to support ocean research as well as to serve a broad range of industries.

IBM Consulting, with its industrial experience and IBM’s cutting-edge technologies, will play a crucial role in supporting The Reef Company reef restoration efforts.

Having a well-designed data architecture and fact-based data can help with understanding performance and measuring progress against broad-based operational and ESG goals. Insights generated from this data can help organizations further their ESG programs as well as drive operational efficiency. Moreover, credible environmental reporting is supported by factual data. These elements support business intelligence and analysis, automation, and AI—all of which can help organizations to quickly seize market opportunities, build customer value, achieve greater efficiencies and respond to risks.

This collaboration creates new opportunities for the two companies to potentially explore leveraging IBM’s AI and data platform and data analytics capabilities, such as watsonx or Sustainability Software solutions like IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, which could assist in the monitoring, reporting and management of these artificial coral reefs.

By harnessing the power of watsonx generative AI capabilities and pre-trained foundation models, IBM could potentially analyze large volumes of data collected from various sources, such as satellite imagery, BluBoxxTM underwater sensors, and historical records, to identify patterns and predict potential threats to coral reefs. This proactive approach could help conservationists take timely action, implement mitigation strategies, and allocate resources more effectively.

The IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, an AI-powered SaaS solution, provides timely and fact-based actionable intelligence that can help organizations and users proactively plan for and manage the impact from severe weather events and climate change events.

IBM’s collaboration with scientists, conservation organizations, and local communities can help drive innovation in coral reef restoration, offering technological solutions that support informed decision-making, efficient resource management, and long-term sustainability of these fragile ecosystems.

This new agreement has the potential to create powerful positive environmental impact, knowledge, employment, academic research, and economic benefits for multiple industries and local communities.

As we celebrate World Oceans Day this month, we are reminded that addressing climate change will take more than any one organization. It will requires companies, governments, nongovernmental organizations and communities, all working together, with the aid of technology, to improve the efficiencies of our activities and operations and to reduce costs, waste and emissions.

By embracing the power of technology, we can gather critical data, accelerate restoration efforts, and promote awareness at an unprecedented scale. However, technology alone is not the solution. We must also address the root causes of reef decline, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, curbing pollution, and promoting sustainable fishing practices.

By combining our collective efforts and leveraging technology, we can help preserve and protect the beauty and biodiversity of healthy oceans for future generations to come.

Learn more

*Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.