The chemical industry must be greener, we have no choice!
"I am first and foremost a communications consultant, which is also my background. But I also find the content enormously fascinating at NOM's label called Chemport Europe. Our motto is: changing the nature of chemistry. Not everyone looks at the chemical industry in a positive light, but there are also all kinds of good developments today; I think it's wonderful that in my role I get to be involved with that. Chemport Europe is there to support companies in green initiatives and in 'greening' what is already there. Think of developments in the field of circular plastics and biomass, for example."
"The world demands a more sustainable and more circular way of producing. At the same time: without chemistry you would have to sacrifice a lot of comforts: you would have no shampoo, you would miss certain clothes, no home cleaning products, no packaging for food. In short: our current standard of living. Left or right, we will just have to produce this more sustainably. Whatever your political affiliation, if you ask people what they want, the most they will say is: a nice life, with our children, no worries, clean air, good drinking water. That is a universal desire. A clean industry is important for that."
"About the work itself: the most fun is learning a lot of new things. Plus the feeling of contributing, even if just a little, by telling the story of what good things are happening in the industry. Of course, there's room for improvement, we're not done yet. It's interesting to hear about that and share that again.
That's how you bring people together. I also organize events, where I see people you might otherwise be less likely to meet. Like the Sustainable Industry Challenge; five companies presented a sustainability challenge to start-ups: come up with a great solution. That makes me happy!"