One of Unigel’s main features is the fact we highly value the development of sustainable solutions and focus on implementing social responsibility practices in our operation. We believe those actions have a positive impact on our value chain, on the communities in which the company’s presence is felt and on our society as a whole.

Unigel Center for Innovation & Technology

We implemented the Unigel Center for Innovation & Technology in the state of Bahia. This facility is equipped with laboratories and pilot-plants that support our Research & Development efforts towards the creation of new products and processes and the improvement of existing ones. Our efforts in this front allowed us to contrive sustainable products and solutions.

Ecogel

In October 2020, we launched the Ecogel line of styrene resins, which is composed of up to 30% of post-consumer materials. Initially, Ecogel is being directed mostly to usage in the production of home appliances components, however, we are continuously working with our other clients to devise sustainable solutions that fulfill their requirements.

Aquagel

Aquagel is a fertilizer we developed from residues from our Acrylics plants. It represents a low cost option for agricultural producers who search for sustainable products.

EcoVadis Gold Medal

We have been Awarded with the Gold Medal Certificate by EcoVadis, world’s main sustainability ratings agency. EcoVadis performs a comprehensive assessment of ESG practices of the companies it rates.

EcoVadis evaluated us for the first time in 2014, as part of the Together for Sustainability program, a worldwide initiative by chemical companiesto enhance ESG practices. Our performance has been consistently improving since then, and the Gold Medal recently attained means we are ranked between the top 5% off all companies rated by them.

Educational initiatives

Since 2004, we maintain the Gysella Tygel Elementary School & Daycare in Candeias-BA. There are more than 750 students currently enrolled in this school, which provides them with pedagogical and psychological support as well as a high educational quality standard, which exceeds all goals proposed by the Ministry of Education and sets the school as benchmark case for such initiatives in the state of Bahia.

We also nurture a partnership with the municipal and state governments in order to offer technical degree courses in Chemistry and Work Safety at the 14 de Agosto School, also in Candeias-BA. The course counts with a structure that includes a state of the art chemical laboratory and aims to qualify its students to work in the industrial sector.

COVID-19 response and relief initiatives

Through the first half of 2021, we made several donations with the intent of combatting the spread of the new coronavirus and offering relief to those who were affected by the pandemic. We directed several measures to support the communities located where we operate, such as:

• Donating over 2,300 food baskets to the families of the graduate students that attend the public schools that we sponsor;
• Delivering two ventilators to hospitals located in the State of Bahia;
• Donating 61 tons of products to public hospitals, such as acrylic boxes for intubation, hand sanitizers and disposable materials; and
• Delivering 1,000 quick COVID-19 tests to the government of the State of Bahia.

Our efforts were recognized by the 2020 Business Ethics Awards (Prêmio Ética nos Negócios), in its Social Responsibility category.

Sustainability Report

Click on the image to access the 2022 Sustainability Report (Portuguese Only)