Neighbors

WACKER sees itself as a corporate citizen, and corporate citizenship is based on good relations with municipalities and neighbors. We assess the effects of our business activities on our surroundings both on an ongoing basis and prior to making investment decisions. The assessment process includes analyses of parameters such as anticipated emissions, the regional infrastructure and the impact on the local job market.

We speak openly about what happens behind our factory gates. Our sites throughout the world are responsive to questions from the public and to the concerns of our neighbors. We have central contact persons on hand and operate local hotlines – usually around the clock – in order to provide prompt, clear information for local residents who turn to us. We publish information about our sites in our environmental reports and brochures.

We invite the public to open houses, which are held as part of a German chemical industry initiative. We offer Environment Information Days at the Burghausen site and community meetings at Nünchritz. Our sites in the US and China host similar events with neighbors or open houses. During the coronavirus pandemic, no in-person events were held to protect visitors. Videos of the WACKER Knowledge Forum are available on our website (German-language web content only). These events took place prior to the pandemic.

Commitments Outside Our Factory Gates

Our two largest sites, Burghausen and Nünchritz, run a variety of regional campaigns, focusing on schools and facilities for children and adolescents, as well as supporting fire departments and water rescue services.

At the Ruperti workshops in Altötting near our Burghausen site, people with disabilities are given meaningful employment and individual vocational training. WACKER obtains various components, such as pipe clamps and mounting brackets, from Ruperti. For a newly built workshop, we donated our SILRES^® BS 6920 binder for robust, long-lasting floors covering a total area of 1,800 square meters and helped with its application.

Proceeds from fundraisers held by WACKER’s company band (webpage in German only) in Burghausen regularly benefit worthy causes in the region. The 2019 Spring concert with an audience of up to 1,000 was held in aid of “Mukoviszidose-Hilfe Südbayern,” an association based in southern Bavaria that supports patients suffering from cystic fibrosis, for example.

The Wacker Chemical Corporation sites in the US are active in many charitable campaigns in their regions. Employees at the Allentown site, for instance, set up a garden at a facility for disabled people on Earth Day 2019. As part of the Habitat for Humanity project, WACKER employees renovated houses for families in need. Charitable projects that received support from teams based at the Charleston and Calvert City sites included Make a Difference Day.

In the reporting period, our Wacker Chemicals South Asia subsidiary supported cancer aid in Singapore with the proceeds of a Christmas market it organized itself; WACKER Indonesia’s team held a Christmas party for children in need.

Pandemic Aid

During the coronavirus pandemic, WACKER supported hospitals, care facilities and other organizations. For instance, the company donated 11,000 liters of isopropyl alcohol to make 15,000 liters of hand sanitizer for hospitals and care facilities in Bavaria.

Wacker Chemical Corporation in Adrian (Michigan, USA) donated self-produced hand sanitizer to local emergency services and medical facilities.

Our Wacker Química do Brasil subsidiary made in-kind donations of mainly food and sanitary products to facilities for people in need in the region around the Jandira site.

Social Commitment in India

Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. (WMC) is a joint venture between WACKER and Metroark, a silicone manufacturer in Kolkata, India. In the period under review, WMC contributed to various charitable projects and, for example, organized action days where people from the region could get their eyes tested and undergo a health check free of charge. With two donations of 7.5 million rupees (€91,500) each, WMC supported the state relief fund of West Bengal, where WACKER’s Amtala production site is located, and the Indian prime minister’s PM CARES Fund for Covid-19 relief.

Commitment to the Environment

In the reporting period, WACKER held its 23rd consecutive annual “Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day” for neighbors of its Adrian site in Michigan (USA). At this event, nearby residents bring in products that are not allowed in trash receptacles, such as paints, finishes, waste oil, antifreeze, pesticides and herbicides, spray cans and batteries. We dispose of the collected waste properly or recycle it.

Teams at our international sites, such as Adrian in Michigan and Calvert City in Kentucky, USA, collected litter in nature reserves and along riverbanks on action days in the period under review. On the occasion of International Coastal Cleanup Day, Wacker Chemicals South Asia in Singapore cleared a section of coast of trash. During WACKER’s Sustainability Week 2020, the Pilsen site team in the Czech Republic collected over a ton of waste out in nature and ensured its environmentally sound disposal.

Regional Procurement

Procuring goods and services from local suppliers is another way in which WACKER supports neighboring communities. We purchase about 90 percent of our technical goods and services in the country for which they are intended. Our two biggest sites are good examples of this regional supply-chain system.

• Burghausen in Bavaria: In 2020, the site procured 19 percent (€154 million) of its technical goods and services from local suppliers (2019: 21 percent = €213 million). Another 23 percent came from suppliers in other parts of Bavaria.
• Nünchritz in Saxony: Located in the state of Saxony in eastern Germany, this plant sourced 12 percent of its supplies and services from the surrounding region in 2020 (13 percent in 2019). In total, these services from Saxony were valued at roughly €400 million (€450 million in 2019).