By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: September 25, 2013 2:18 pm ET
Updated: September 25, 2013 2:20 pm ET
Materials firm Heritage Plastics Inc. will begin making BASF Corp.’s Ecovio-brand bio-based compounds this month at Heritage’s plant in Picayune, Miss.
It will be the first time that Ecovio materials will be made outside of Europe. Materials made in Germany had been sold into North America since 2007. BASF Corp. is the North American unit of BASF SE, a global plastics and chemicals giant based in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The partnership with Heritage “allows (BASF) to respond efficiently to a growing market,” BASF global biopolymers business president Juergen Keck said in a Sept. 25 news release.
In the same release, Heritage President Paul Lewis said that “combining our experience with BASF’s to broaden the production of Ecovio products was a natural fit.”
Heritage is based in Atlanta and operates plants in Picayune and in Sylacauga, Ala., making mineral-based compounds and concentrates based on polyethylene and polypropylene.
BASF Corp. is based in Florham Park, N.J. The business employs almost 17,000 in North America and has annual sales of $18.5 billion in the region. Globally, BASF employs more than 110,000 and has annual sales of almost $94 billion. | 
