ACC’s Sustainability Leadership Awards honor member companies for their achievements and contributions to sustainability in four priority areas including: product safety, innovation and transparency; environmental protection; circularity; and social responsibility and community engagement. ACC’s “External Collaborator” award recognizes an organization that has collaborated with an ACC member on an initiative that has made significant contributions to drive sustainability and innovation.

"ACC members are making progress to innovate, develop and deploy products and technologies that advance sustainability by helping to protect the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance circularity, address plastics waste, and enhance community engagement. We are proud to recognize these member companies for their substantial achievements in these areas," said Chris Jahn, ACC president and CEO. 

ACC recognized Evonik’s RHEANCE® One in the category of product safety, innovation, and transparency. RHEANCE One is a glycolipid-based platform produced from biomolecules identical to those found in nature and are mild to the skin. RHEANCE One is 100% biodegradable, utilizes responsibly sourced raw materials, and is produced and verified with a traceable supply chain to the farming level.

In the area of environmental protection, ACC awarded DuPont’s Styrofoam^TM Brand ST-100 extruded polystyrene (XPS) Insulation. Used in building and construction applications it delivers a substantial 94% reduction in embodied carbon across the product life cycle, as verified through a third-party Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study and Environmental Production Declaration (EPD) assessment. 

For achievement in circularity, ACC recognized SABIC’s partnership with Polivouga, a manufacturer of flexible film products, and Nueva Pescanova Group, a leading Spanish food brand. Together they launched TRUCIRCLE, an innovative project resulting in the world’s first frozen food packaging solution using SABIC’s certified circular polyethylene from feedstock sourced from OBP.  

Winning the award for social responsibility and community engagement was THINC30, a social responsibility event platform designed by Covestro LLC. THINC30 brings community stakeholders together to drive the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the local Pittsburgh community. Covestro hopes to inspire action that will advance the region’s growth and prosperity in a sustainable way.

The external collaborator award went to Dow Chemical and WM for launching a collaboration to improve residential recycling for plastic films by allowing consumers in select markets to recycle materials like bread bags, cling wrap, and dry-cleaning bags directly in their curbside recycling. The program is expected to help divert more than 120,000 metric tons of plastics film from landfills annually, and by 2025, film recycling through WM is expected to reach 8% of U.S. households.

To learn more, visit www.americanchemistry.com.