Published on 01/07/2021
The dyestuff, chemical and pharmaceutical industries have made a proven major contribution to the rapid industrial and societal development of the Basel region in the last 150 years. Their innovation has made headlines worldwide, while their commercial success and growth have created work and prosperity throughout the region.
The waste and wastewater that accumulated in manufacturing their successful products was long accepted as an inevitable part of progress and was disposed of in the fastest and cheapest way possible. For a long time, the impact this had on human beings and nature was not up for debate.
Schweizerhalle plant a symbol
Indeed, awareness of environmental protection and sustainability was practically never raised until way beyond the middle of the 20th century. The safety regulations relating to the handling of dangerous substances were lax, and there were no statutory requirements at all governing the disposal of waste. It was only the disasters and accidents that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s that raised awareness of the topic and subsequently led to stricter guidelines and laws. In the Basel region, this development was driven by the fire at the Schweizerhalle plant on November 1, 1986, with its serious consequences for all life in the Rhine. The incident profoundly shook public confidence in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. The processing of what happened at Schweizerhalle led to a greater rethink in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry across the world in the following years. This resulted in, among other things, the introduction of stricter safety requirements in the production environment, as well as new environmental laws. In communication and public relations work, too, there was a prevailing realization that the only way to gain public trust – which was absolutely essential – and ensure the long-term positive reputation of a company was through openness and transparency.
Lindane in Huningue
In the Basel region, there were no legal requirements governing the removal of waste either for private households or industry until the 1970s. It was mostly disposed of according to the motto “out of sight, out of mind.” Waste, including highly toxic waste, was tipped in the Rhine, buried or even stored in the open. This is what happened on the Ugine Kuhlmann production site. The company simply stored lindane residues from its pesticide production out in the open air. This is unimaginable nowadays.
The contamination of the soil that was accepted therefore happened long before Novartis took over the site. Nevertheless, after determining the damage, the company decided to thoroughly remediate the perimeter. There are unlikely to be many cases of a company voluntarily paying to remediate a contaminated site that it inherited and was not itself responsible for creating. This engagement was very well received and valued by politicians – especially the French. The wider public, however, were unaware of the exemplary project and the planning of the remediation work, as well as being unaware of the start date and the progression of the work. This was also connected to the fact that the site was on French soil and at that time was used by STEIH S.à r.l. as the owner and operator of a water treatment plant. As a French company, it had to assume responsibility for the remediation project for legal reasons; Novartis was “only” responsible for managing the project. This situation initially resulted in the project managers barely communicating externally at all.
Improved communication
This changed when the remediation work was stopped temporarily. Air quality measurements taken by the Basel-City authorities and Novartis had found that the odor emissions caused by the work had not been reduced as hoped. As a result of the stop on September 24, 2013, ARA STEIH and its past rose to prominence, and the remediation project was also a topic in the media. This attention necessitated rapid, open and transparent communication. One of the first immediate measures was to launch an information website. In addition, those responsible took advantage of the interruption in the remediation for several months to carry out an even more thorough risk analysis and evaluate a new operator for the remediation work. A communication plan was developed and agreed with the authorities in France and Switzerland in parallel with the adjusted remediation planning. For example, the air and water quality measurements were published in co-operation with the Office for Environment and Energy of the canton of Basel City from then on.
Intensified public relations work
In addition, public relations work was intensified with a view to the local residents in Basel-City, Huningue and Saint-Louis by Novartis conducting public information events involving the authorities, among other things. This new dialog platform was used to regularly exchange information with the public and enabled direct contact with the project team and the companies commissioned to perform the work.
If the persons in charge had initially excluded the public, they now provided them with information openly and transparently. The lindane remediation by Novartis was also explained technically, and it was precisely this message that promoted the acceptance of, and degree of knowledge about, the project which soon spread far beyond the region and led to a multitude of inquiries from politics and industry. Among other things, site visits and information events were provided for media representatives and politicians which were met with keen interest. The regular dialog and exchange with the various political offices and departments was formalized as part of the new project organization. In addition, there was closer contact with a number of residents; in some cases, they even acted as unofficial investigators and reported odor emissions to the project team directly. This uncomplicated exchange proved to be particularly valuable, enabling the necessary optimization of processes without losing time.
Media reception
The open and transparent communication and information policy also bore fruit in the media. As the Basler Zeitung wrote on June 30, 2014: “New start for remediation of the toxic dump. A new firm is to be entrusted with the remediation of the lindane waste in Huningue. Novartis has put the contract out to tender again. The concentrations of air pollution will in future be measured around the clock.” Another aspect that the public and thereby also the media were very interested in was the path along the bank of the Rhine from the Dreirosenbruecke to Huningue. The completion of the Swiss section of the extended Alsace path along the bank of the Rhine (Elsaesserrheinweg) was reported in the media, e.g. in the Basler Zeitung on March 2, 2016: “From April, the path along the bank of the Rhine beneath the Novartis Campus is open at last. However, walkers can only use it without restrictions at weekends. On weekdays, it is closed at the national border because the lindane remediation work on the Rhine embankment has not yet been completed.”
From this point on, public and media interest concentrated on the question of when the through link for pedestrians and cyclists along the Rhine to Huningue would be open. However, because the amount of contaminated soil was considerably higher than expected and low water levels in the Rhine slowed or even prevented its removal at times, the completion date for the work and hence the opening of the path along the bank of the Rhine all the way through had to be delayed a number of times. As part of an information event for representatives of the authorities and the media on May 3, 2018, it was announced that, in the worst-case scenario, the remediation work would not be completed and the transport link opened until the first quarter of 2021. This is how the Basler Zeitung commented on the announcement: “The remediation of the ARA STEIH site was actually supposed to be finished at the end of 2017. However, this came to nothing. As Matthias Leuenberger, Chairman of Novartis Switzerland, announced at a press conference on Thursday, the remediation work is to take until 2021. All the soil on the site of the former wastewater treatment plant needs to be freed of toxic substances.”
It was all the more pleasing that the completion date for the remediation and the opening of the through link for pedestrians and cyclists along the Rhine could, after all, be brought forward to October 25, 2019. The Basler Zeitung wrote on this day: “The path along the bank of the Rhine from Basel to Huningue (France) is now open in its entirety. The Basel Construction and Transport Department announced on Friday that the path could be opened because Novartis had completed the remediation of a contaminated site.” As well as the official ceremony with representatives of the authorities to celebrate the completion of the project, two public events were held on the following weekend.
Conclusion
The impact of remediation projects on the reputation of a company is not necessarily positive. Public and published opinion assumes that repairing damage must be the responsibility of the company. So, how can you ensure that voluntary remediation which ultimately costs the innocent company around 300 million Swiss francs is received positively by the public? Is it possible for the company executing the project to actually improve its reputation?
Looking back, the answer is “yes” – whilst at the same time having to concede that this opportunity was missed at the beginning of the lindane remediation on the ARA STEIH site. In the first phase of the project, it was decided not to undertake consistent public relations and media work – not least because the actual parameters of the project were significantly underestimated at the beginning, which is why it was not deemed to be worthy of greater communication efforts. Knowing what we do now, greater importance would undoubtedly have been attached to the aspect of communication and public relations work. Colleagues who deal with similar remediation in the future should build on this experience when it comes to the question of whether, when and how remediation is communicated. If in doubt, the answer is: always.
