Nan Ya Plastics

Nan Ya Plastics Corporation is part of the Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group. The company manufactures and markets plastic and chemical fibre products. These include PVC film, plastic leather, synthetic paper, and decoration materials. Nan Ya also offers electronic products such as LCD displays, touch panels and printed circuit boards. The company was founded in 1958 and has its headquarters in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Total score

14 / 48

Grade summary

Nan Ya Plastics’ progress has shown a downward trend over the past four years. In this year’s ChemScore ranking, the company scores a C-. Nan Ya Plastics produces one SIN List substance and no persistent chemicals but only 15 per cent of its global production is known.

In its sustainability efforts, Nan Ya Plastics evaluates various aspects of its products, such as raw material use, as well as water, energy and waste recycling. However, the company lacks a phase-out plan for hazardous chemicals. It promotes sustainable products but does not advertise them on third-party platforms such as ChemSec’s Marketplace. While Nan Ya Plastics claims to replace petrochemical raw materials, the absence of a statement confirming that feedstock does not compete with food production negatively affects the company’s score. Nan Ya Plastics receives a point for PET and PP recycling but the circular economy practices that are in place lack concrete KPIs that cover the SMART targets.

How did we come to this score?

Opportunities for improvement

Market safer alternatives
Nan Ya Plastics does not have any safer alternatives evaluated by independent third parties in its product portfolio. Safer alternatives replace the use of hazardous substances and are crucial in order to put an end to chemical pollution. The company should, therefore, start producing safer alternatives or market existing ones on an independent third-party platform. A good place to advertise is ChemSec’s Marketplace, where buyers and suppliers can find and market safer alternatives.

Increase transparency
Much is still unknown about Nan Ya Plastics’ production of hazardous chemicals. In order to allow a comprehensive global evaluation, Nan Ya Plastics should disclose the share of revenue and production volume of hazardous chemicals (or products that contain them). This information should cover all operations globally. This is particularly important since only 15% of the company’s sales are in the EU/US, where some degree of chemical transparency exists.

Increase circularity
The chemical industry finds itself at the beginning of the value chain. Therefore, it has a responsibility to act fast against the ever-growing scarcity of our planet’s resources. But Nan Ya Plastics only receives two points for circularity since we were unable to identify any circular products, processes or strategies. Nor did we see a decrease in hazardous waste or increased use of recycled hazard-free feedstock or biobased material. Nan Ya Plastics should start by identifying its current production and use of circular products and processes, and then specify the share of revenue that is derived from such products. The company should also develop and present a circularity strategy, including a commitment to increase the share of revenue derived from circular products.