Safe Handling

Safe handling and usage of crop protection products is the basis of product stewardship. We continuously improve packaging and application solutions with our engineering expertise, to make the use of our products safe and effective for farmers and the environment.

Innovative packaging by BASF for safe, efficient, environmentally friendly handling

Farmers need the right solutions to get their everyday work done. This includes having the right packaging for all of their crop protection products. Encouraging safer and more efficient use of crop protection products is one of BASF’s top priorities.

Eco-Pack is a lightweight, easy-to-handle-canister, which was developed and designed with, tested and validated by farmers in their daily work.

Its light weight translates into easier and safer handling for the farmers, as well as environmental benefits through lower greenhouse gas emissions during production and transportation.

The Eco-Pack canister has a central opening at the top, a screw cap with a foam seal instead of a foil seal that makes it easier to handle and to completely recycle, and a special design that reduces spillage and glugging and optimizes rinsing and pouring.

With the Eco-Pack system, the farmer’s risk of coming into contact with a product is reduced significantly. The easy handling design enables a more efficient use of the crop protection product. At the same time, farmers save up to 25 percent of their working time spent on opening and emptying the canister.

Eco-Pack is particularly compatible with Closed Transfer Systems like easyconnect

Because Eco-Pack is lightweight and translucent it is easy to handle and to visually control the transfer of product into the sprayer via easyconnect, and to rinse the canister afterwards. Its twofold scale - one for up-right positions, one for up-side-down position – makes it easy to correctly dose the product and to check what is left in the container. Its center neck provides better emptying and rinsing properties and makes it easier to balance the container on the closed transfer system.

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Because Eco-Pack is so lightweight compared to our older packaging varieties, by the end of 2020 farmers will have saved circa 14,000 tons of CO₂ by using Eco-Pack, since its introduction in 2010. This is the equivalent of driving 80 million kilometers by car, and the amount of CO₂ that 80,000 trees can absorb from the atmosphere annually.

The new closed transfer system for crop protection products easyconnect is part of our continuous efforts to make the handling of our crop protection products easier and safer. Developed by BASF in collaboration with third-party equipment manufacturers, easyconnect focuses on highest safety levels, convenience and speed of use.

The easyconnect system significantly reduces operator exposure and spilling risks. Throughout the whole working process – from opening the container to filling the spray tank to rinsing the container for recycling neither the operator nor the environment is in contact with the product. Easyconnect also speeds up the workflow on-farm as it reduces the number of steps in a farmer’s workflow to a minimum, while adding safety.

It consists of two components: a unique screw cap – pre-fitted on the containers – and a coupler, which together establish the closed transfer system. A broad range of containers (using IS 63 industry standard neck size) is planned to be equipped with the standardized pre-mounted screw cap and offered to farmers.

The easyconnect system has been tested on-farm in selected countries since 2015 and is being optimized based on farmers’ feedback. Market launch is expected in 2021/2022 in Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, with other countries likely to follow.

All interested manufacturers in the market can use easyconnect with their products, because we believe it is important to make it as accessible to farmers as possible. ADAMA, BASF, Corteva Agriscience, Nufarm and Syngenta have each been piloting easyconnect in selected countries in Europe.