Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
With an optimistic mindset and strong commitment, my passion is to transform value chains towards a circular economy. At BASF, I have the privilege to coordinate the Global Plastics Steering Committee. Our team spans across the organizational units of BASF. We define the roadmap for the transformation of BASF plastics portfolio towards a circular economy. In my role I draw on deep expertise I have gained over 20 years in the social, technological, economic, ecological, and political (STEEP) framework conditions that companies need to succeed in a circular economy. For over ten years I have led academic research in this field at ETH Zurich. I started my academic journey with a PhD on circular economy at University of St. Gallen, financed by Nestle Corporate Technologies. Having seen the devastating effects of plastic pollution in South-East Asia with my own eyes, I became co-founder of Plastic Recovery Land & Sea (PRLS). The focus of our operations is in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where we empower the No-Trash Triangle Initiative to scale its plastic waste collection operations, supported by the German Development Agency GIZ and by private partners.
My responsibility is to coordinate the roadmap of BASF for plastics circularity. In collaboration with an amazing network of colleagues in Operating Divisions, in Research, and in Corporate Functions, we specify and implement the actions to realize recyclability and recycled content for BASF' global plastics portfolio.
In this role, i initated and led a global group of experts responsible for advocacy for organic recycling, for use of compostable plastics in agriculture and for organic waste collection. As a cornerstone, we initiated LCA analyses and biodegradability testing to verify and communicate the benefits of compostable plastics in targeted applications.
We collect plastic waste from > 10.000 students in schools, as well as from islands and rivers barriers in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
I established a new research area at ETH Zurich on how energy-intensive industries can advocate for policies that create a market pull for products with lower emissions and higher circularity. The research results were published in the highest ranking academic journals (such as Journal of Management Studies) as well as in popular outlets (e.g. The Economist, Handelsblatt).
As Vice Chairman of European Bioplastics, i helped to transform this association into the leading voice of the industry for compostable and biobased plastics in Europe. To create regional stakeholder platforms i further initiated associations on organic recycling and compostable plastics in Brazil, Germany, and in Asia
I financed my doctoral research by consulting Nestle Corporate Technologies (Nestec) on how to reduce their global scope 3 emissions in their agricultural supply chain. This resulted in a set of KPIs that Nestle integrated in the global quality management of their dairy value chain.