BASF Canada awards Pyrowave $20,000 in start-up challenge

 BASF Canada selected Pyrowave - a Montreal-based plastics microwave recycling business - as the winner of its start-up challenge hosted at the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada’s Good Chemistry Conference in Ottawa.

“Tapping into the innovation of the startup community will help to drive the entire chemistry industry forward,” said Marcelo Lu, President, BASF Canada. “Start-ups are future-focused and will help to solve some of societies’ biggest challenges. BASF shares that commitment and supports members of Canada’s innovation community like Pyrowave.”

A variety of digital and innovation-focused start-ups were considered, with the top four companies tasked with pitching business solutions for evaluation by an industry-focused judging panel live at the conference. The evaluation criteria included strategic fit to chemical-related markets, innovation, business plan, global scalability and presentation. In addition to receiving $20,000, Pyrowave will meet with CIAC member companies to evaluate a potential future partnership.

“We are proud to see support from the industry for leading technologies and a strong commitment to make plastics more circular,” said Jocelyn Doucet, CEO of Pyrowave.

Pyrowave’s patented technology helps convert locally mixed plastics, including polystyrene, into products to be used by the chemical industry to manufacture new plastics.

About BASF

BASF Canada, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, has approximately 1190 employees at production facilities and offices located across Canada. BASF Canada is a subsidiary of BASF SE, and an affiliate of BASF Corporation. To find out more about BASF’s activities in Canada, visit www.basf.ca or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/basfcanada.

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 20,000 employees in North America and had sales of $19.7 billion in 2018. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.com.

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 122,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of around €63 billion in 2018. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.