Brussels – Belgian foamer, Recticel confirmed on 19 October that it has restarted production, quarantined and traced foam made with contaminated Lupranate T80 A TDI supplied by BASF.
In a statement Recticel said its ‘primary concern is the safety of its employees, of the employees of its customers, and of end-consumers. Therefore, Recticel immediately stopped production and deliveries at the affected sites, and has taken all required safety measures.’
‘All affected sites have restarted production’ with TDI which conforms to specification, the firm continued.
It added that it has worked closely with its customers, and ‘completed a traceability exercise to identify all the affected foam deliveries.’
Recticel continued that it ‘is informing affected customers with more detailed information and remains committed to limit the impact for its customers’ as far as it can.
The firm noted BASF’s recent statement on the safety concerns and risks associated with the contaminated TDI. In this BASF said flexible foam made with the TDI batch had dichlorobenzene levels ‘clearly below 1ppm’, the ‘limit for workplace exposure.’ and that firm’s offer to collect all foam products made with the contaminated TDI in the bedding and upholstery sector.
BASF admitted supplying contaminated TDI in EMEA on 11 October and said In a statement, BASF said that TDI from Ludwigshafen ‘produced between August 25 and September 29, 2017, contained a significantly higher concentration of dichlorobenzene. Since then, the production process has been changed to prevent further fluctuations in quality.’ It added that around 7500 tonne TDI were affected.
