BASF is the first European manufacturer to have completely switched a production plant for XPS (extruded polystyrene rigid foam) to a new polymeric flame retardant (PolyFR). Styrodur insulating panels produced at BASF’s plant in Tudela, Spain, are now made exclusively with the polymeric flame retardant, which has a superior environmental profile while offering the same flame retardancy. BASF’s other Styrodur production plants in Ludwigshafen and Schwarzheide, Germany, and Bibbiano, Italy, will all be switched to the new flame retardant by the end of 2014. BASF thus continues its successful strategy as the market leader for polystyrene-based insulating materials in Europe.