Day 6 brought us, full business casual clad, to the gates of Nouryon, a chemical production site whose Polymer Production site was centered in their Deventer location where we visited. After gearing up in lab coats, tied up hair and safety goggles, we were guided around the facility’s many environmental compliance, testing and experimental laboratories. Although it would be easy for a company of their size and field to ignore environmental concerns in their practice, we learned about Nouryon’s commitment to sustainability and making the chemical production process more cyclical and less wasteful. Be it that 100% of their electricity comes from renewable sources such as solar panels to their 40% carbon emission reduction goals by 2040 from their 2019 figures, Nouryon is making sizable steps towards being as environmentally friendly as possible. In terms of their actual lab work, the company actively utilizes their environmental compliance lab where they test the biodegradation of different materials they produce to make sure that such materials are both in full compliance with environmental protection laws as well as that they are going to biodegrade within an appropriate time frame: not too soon so that they fulfill their intended purpose, but also not so late that they cause buildup of waste. Another factor they were looking at in that lab specifically was measuring the amount of negative materials in a product so that they can measure and be aware of the threat of bioaccumulation, where the buildup of a negative material found in a product, even if it is not a large amount, can accumulate in an environment and cause irreparable damages. Nouryon was kind enough to be fully transparent about their production policies as well as their firm commitment to personal safety and environmental protection. It was also personally an interesting picture into a field I do not commonly interact with so that I am able to see how seemingly unrelated fields can all be working towards a similar goal when it comes to environmental protection. 

After we ended our day at the Nouryon chemical plant, we took our 2.5 hour long drive southbound to the city of Rotterdam, a much more modern city landscape as compared to the historic Amsterdam. As we prepare for the second half of our trip here in the Netherlands, we are starting to get a better view of the role sustainability plays in the everyday life of the Dutch, as well as what challenges we face on the global scale going forward when looking at environmental sustainability.