BASF has celebrated a major milestone recently at its Huntsville, Alabama, site – the production of its 400 millionth automotive catalytic converter.

The “400” celebration took place at BASF’s largest manufacturing site in North America, which employs more than 650 employees. The company most recently expanded that site to enable continued creation of emission-control technologies for cleaner air.

In addition to the catalytic converter milestone, the Huntsville facility also commemorated another landmark in sustainability by reducing production waste and achieving the Virtually Zero Waste Facility Certification. To qualify for this manufacturing achievement, facilities must meet several criteria, including full transparency about the amount of waste diverted from landfills and sent for incineration with energy recovery.

BASF says the three-tier celebration – for the catalytic converter, facility expansion and Zero Waste certification – makes the future look bright in terms of environmental friendliness for the chemical company.

“For BASF, it’s a perfect thing. We create chemistry for a sustainable future, so this perfectly aligns with our mission statement,” said Dirk Demuth, senior vice president, mobile emissions catalysts, BASF. “Secondly, it’s an attractive business, and you can leave a positive footprint on the planet by the job you did.”