Westlake Corporation

Grade Summary
Westlake Chemical produces 5 highly hazardous chemicals. This may not seem so bad, compared to many of the other companies in the ranking, but it is still a portfolio full of problematic substances. On a positive note, 83…
Westlake Chemicals produces/uses 5 highly hazardous substances –5 SIN List chemicals, 1 PIC, and 1 HHP – 1 of which is included on the EU’s REACH Candidate List. 1 of these highly hazardous substances is either banned or severely restricted, with set dates when production needs to cease (1 Authorisation Listsubstance, and no POPs). The company produces no persistent chemicals.
Please note that there is no available data for the 17 percent of the company’s production that takes place outside of the EU and US. Lower EU/US production means higher uncertainty with regard to the total production of hazardous chemicals, which will have a negative impact on the company’s score in this category.
Westlake Chemical has a method in place to screen and assess the sustainability of its products, but does not include the intrinsic hazards of ingredients in the screening process. Nor does it exclude substances with toxic properties from its new products. Westlake Chemical does not actively market safer alternatives on its own website or on ChemSec Marketplace. The company has no true circular product, process or innovation. Westlake Chemical does not use biobased resources. Nor does it source and treat recycled materials in a sustainable way, which is one of the key elements of a circular economy. Westlake Chemical is not actively reducing the hazardous waste it generates.
The American company does not produce only sustainable products. Nor does it have a phase-out strategy for hazardous substances that go beyond regulatory compliance. It shares chemical safety information on its website and follows a credible code of conduct standard. Westlake Chemical did not respond to ChemSec’s attempts to communicate around its ChemScore ranking. Nor does it share any information about what kind of chemicals it produces in regions with low regulatory demands for transparency (e.g. Asia). Westlake Chemical has no circular economy program in place, thus lacking objective and measurable circular economy targets.