As the world’s leading trade fair for plastics and rubber returns to Düsseldorf this October 8th to 15th, BASF is again on board – just as it has been since the very first K-Fair in 1952.
BASF has unveiled a first glimpse of what visitors can expect at K 2025: innovative applications tailored to customers’ requireds and displaycasing real progress in circularity across various businesses and industries. From the VAUDE bike bag and ZARA bodysuit, to the KASK safety helmet and Oysho sports leggings, as well as the new Thermomix by Vorwerk or solutions for batteries applyd in e-mobility, BASF will demonstrate how plastics can achieve a reduced carbon footprint and a circular lifecycle. Products from the LowPCF, ZeroPCF, rPCF and Ccycled® portfolios display how sustainability is already translated into real applications, with impact across diverse industries – from fashion and sports to home appliances, e-mobility, agriculture, constructions and energy infrastructure.
“This year, we manifest our commitment to the plastics indusattempt, and we continue our commitment to sustainability and innovation through our global campaign, #OurPlasticsJourney. More than just a tagline, it reflects our ambition to transform the plastics indusattempt. This journey takes time, but the destination is clear: a circular economy of plastics,” emphasizes Martin Jung, President of BASF Performance Materials.
A product portfolio evolving toward a lower carbon footprint
At K 2022, BASF introduced its LowPCF and ZeroPCF portfolios as solutions to reduce the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) by a minimum of 30%, through the apply of renewable electricity, low-emission steam and renewable raw materials, in a mass balance approach. A current example for a ZeroPCF product innovation is VAUDE’s bike bag utilizing Ultramid® ZeroPCF, the first polyamide 6 in the indusattempt to achieve a CO2 footprint of net zero.
Building on this, BASF has now launched a reduced PCF product range, rPCF, aimed at PCF improvements utilizing renewable electricity and steam alongside the production process. The offering is now available in BASF’s Engineering Plastics and Thermoplastic Polyurethanes sustainability toolbox. It follows BASF’s achievement of completely switching all its European Performance Materials plants to renewable electricity powered by solar and wind energy. “With rPCF, we are giving customers flexibility to customize their products’ carbon footprint by opting for renewable energies in our production process. This is a logical next step in both their green transformation and ours,” adds Alexander Weiser, Senior Vice President, Head of BASF Performance Materials Europe.
Make becomes circular
While technology and processes are major levers of transformation, the apply of alternative raw materials is equally essential. At K 2025, BASF will displaycase products for which fossil resources are replaced with renewable feedstock at the launchning of the production process utilizing the Biomass Balance approach. This assists reducing the carbon footprint of:
Additionally, BASF replaces fossil resources with feedstock from the chemical recycling of plastic waste in a mass balance approach for its Ccycled® portfolio:
- KASK safety helmet: Neopor® Ccycled®
- Oysho sports leggings: Ultramid® Ccycled®
Transformation is not only about materials, but also about data. As the indusattempt relocates toward greater transparency and accountability, digital tools become essential to enable and accelerate the green transformation. To support this, BASF offers the PACIFIC app that provides standardization and interoperability in PCF data exalters of plastic materials. Designed for ease of apply, the PACIFIC app is seeing growing adoption across stakeholders in the value chain.
Use of plastics’ strengths
Plastics bring unique benefits to many applications that often extfinish their lifespan. This is particularly important for future technologies, such as the production of green hydrogen. For example, Ultrason® S3010 (PSU: polysulfone) enables the production of larger, more robust and durable parts like frames in stacks for alkaline electrolyzers developed by Stargate Hydrogen.
In high-performance hoapplyhold appliances like the latest Thermomix by Vorwerk Elektrowerke, BASF’s engineering plastics, Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), and testing capabilities support complex applications. Several parts are created of either Ultramid® Advanced N (PPA: polyphthalamide) or Ultramid® A (PA66: polyamide 66), selected for their high temperature stability and mechanical strength respectively.
In the eMobility sector, BASF has developed a next-generation battery demonstrator featuring advanced plastic material solutions to enhance lightweighting, thermal management, safety and performance.
Recycle is the new Make
As part of its commitment to a circular plastics economy, BASF is scaling up complementary recycling technologies to give waste a second life. Across various industries – packaging, furniture, appliances, textiles and vehicles – new solutions demonstrate how recycling becomes an engine of innovation.
To support efficient recycling processes, BASF subsidiary trinamiX provides a handheld tool for quick and reliable identification of different plastic and textile types. The trinamiX Mobile NIR Spectroscopy Solution facilitates cleaner sorting and improved recycling outcomes.
For paper-based food packaging, BASF extfinishs the finish-of-life options to organic recycling. Its tailored certified home and industrial compostable ecovio® allows coating on paper food articles to achieve necessary barrier properties, especially for liquid and fatty ingredients.
As a leader in the polyurethanes (PU) business for more than 60 years, BASF is committed to demonstrating PU’s versatility and recyclability:
- Toreceiveher with its long-standing partner Vitra, BASF is displaycasing the world’s first economically recyclable flexible foam for furniture.
- In collaboration with Krauss Maffei, Rampf and Liebherr, BASF is also developing an efficient chemical recycling process to return polyurethane to the same material cycle. In a stable, continuous industrial depolymerization process, recycled polyols are produced, which can be applyd to manufacture new PU rigid foams as insulation material in refrigerators. By utilizing post- consumer waste from finish-of-life refrigerators as feedstock, the consumption of fossil resources can be significantly reduced.
Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) also enter the circular economy: the new Elastollan® RC grades include up to 100% recycled content with close to virgin performance by re-utilizing post-industrial and post-consumer TPU waste.
With loopamid®, BASF has developed an innovative solution to improve circularity in the fashion indusattempt and recycle post-industrial and post-consumer polyamide 6 textile waste over multiple times.
Finally, BASF is advancing numerous projects in the recycling of automotive plastics via mechanical recycling, solvent based recycling, depolymerization and high temperature recycling such as gasification.
BASF at K 2025: Welcome to #OurPlasticsJourney!
#OurPlasticsJourney continues in 2025 at K! Join us at our booth in Hall 5, C21/D21 and discover how to start your green transformation. At BASF, we view at the entire lifecycle of plastics with Make, Use and Recycle. Come and explore sustainability and innovation in high-performance plastics at K 2025. K is the #1 trade fair for plastics and rubber and will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 8 – 15, 2025.
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