German chemical giant BASF (Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com) has switched its entire polystyrene-based insulation product portfolio for the European market to the new polymeric flame retardant (PolyFR). The change comes nine months ahead of the deadline laid out in the REACH regulation, which forbids the use of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) as a flame retardant as of 21 August 2015. This means BASF’s “Styropor” and “Neopor” EPS, and its “Styrodur” XPS are only available with PolyFR from now on.

Commenting on the switch, Giorgio Greening of the group’s Styrenic Foams business unit, said, “By switching to PolyFR, we can guarantee the supply of eco-efficient thermal insulation products for sustainable building projects in the future.” Using PolyFR allows producers to manufacture insulation materials that meet Class E under European standards.

To meet rising global demand for PolyFR, which has a better environmental profile than HBCD, a number of producers have set up new production plants, including the recent announcement by Albemarle (Baton Rouge, Louisiana / USA; www.albemarle.com) and Israel Chemicals (ICL, Tel Aviv / Israel; www.icl-ip.com) to set up a PolyFR joint venture – for details, see Plasteurope.com of 02.09.2014.

Earlier this year, BASF came out publicly against a consortium of companies planning to lobby the EU for an extension of the use of HBCD – for details, see Plasteurope.com of 19.06.2014.