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UTECH 2015: ISOPA showed the way to Product Stewardship & Sustainability

UTECH Europe 2015 – the leading international event for the polyurethanes industry – was held in Maastricht on April 14 -16. The event was once more a perfect opportunity for Isopa and its members to present their latest achievements and gain visibility towards a broader audience of international stakeholders.

ISOPA’s main objective was to ensure that exhibitors and visitors leave UTECH 2015 informed of ISOPA’s work and how it can contribute to help them meet their own objectives.

In order to achieve this, a stand was built in the conference center and a morning session was dedicated to ISOPA’s activities on the second day.

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Jörg Palmersheim and Kristine Dewaele welcome visitors at the ISOPA stand

ISOPA stand: The place to be at UTECH!

Pass the entrance door, turn right, walk for a minute, and there it was: the ISOPA’s stand! With its bright colours and giant flat screen, who could have missed it?

This year, ISOPA’s stand at UTECH aimed to inform stakeholders who had never been in direct contact with the association, yet had an interest in and contribute to the development of the polyurethanes’ sector. The spotlight shined on ISOPA’s activities, its added value for producers of diisocyanates and polyols and, in turn, its added value for the European polyurethanes industry. In short, product stewardship and sustainability were the magic words. It is only natural then that the Polyurethanes campaign and ISOPA’s product stewardship programmes were given lots of attention.

In a few glances, visitors and exhibitors who came by the stand had a comprehensive overview of ISOPA and enjoyed a great atmosphere… Not to mention they all left with a polyurethanes-made sticky pad!

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Successful give-aways!

A well represented ISOPA delegation

ISOPA also made an impression in the conference rooms! The programme was busy at UTECH this year with many important speakers, and ISOPA was very well represented.

On day 1, the welcoming speech was given by Frank Grunert, ISOPA President, who reminded the audience how much the industry is committed to meeting the best product stewarship standards and key societal challenges (climate change, energy efficiency, food waste, etc…). He also made clear that nothing can be achieved without a close cooperation with all actors in the PU value chain.

On day 2, an entire morning was dedicated to ISOPA’s activities. The session opened with a presentation by Jörg Palmersheim, ISOPA Seceratry General who then passed the baton to ISOPA members . Ronald van den Bosch (Dow) took the floor first and shared the latest news on product stewardship. He was followed by Diane Daems (Huntsman) who confronted myths and reality on fire safety and polyurethanes. Then came K.W. Kroesen (BASF), Frank Rothbarth (Bayer MaterialScience) and Shpresa Kotaji (Huntsman), who respectively elaborated on REACH, ISOPA’s communication activities and the Passive House.

If you are interested to know more about ISOPA´s objectives and the polyurethane industry, don´t hesitate to visit our new website and share your opinions with us on Twitter!

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Frank Grunert, ISOPA President and Jörg Palmersheim, ISOPA Secretary General