How two men joined the fight for cleaner chemicals

Happy 15^th Birthday to H2 Compliance

It was 2004 when two colleagues at Hewlett-Packard first came up with the idea for H2 Compliance. John Hayes and Kevin Hoban realised that companies increasingly needed support complying with chemical regulations in Europe.

The company, which was formally established on 15^th June 2006, now has a team of over 40 skilled and dedicated employees.

Despite struggling initially, H2 already had a team of eight people by the time of the first meaningful deadline of the EU’s REACH Regulation in 2008. One of its main activities was acting as Only Representative for chemical companies in the USA.

Two key appointments then took the company forward.

In 2008, Grant Kinsman joined as company CEO, followed a year later by Beth Bidstrup. Beth’s extensive experience allowed H2 to expand into the pharmaceutical industry, where it is still very active today.

A further breakthrough saw the launch of the software system for managing chemical regulatory affairs, element1*.

H2 then moved into hazard communications, biocides and cosmetics. Now, as more and more countries implement chemical regulations, the company is growing its network to support customers in all their international markets.

The acquisition by Landbell Group in 2016 was another significant milestone, which led to the expansion of H2’s environmental consulting business and the creation of its circular economy engineering team, which is headed by Dora Caria.

The former focuses on advisory and execution services for extended producer responsibility, while the latter helps customers to implement global takeback programmes.

The road ahead is exciting. Product stewardship and the circular economy are causing industry to focus ever more on products that respect regulatory and consumer demands for a decreasing footprint – and Landbell Group and H2 will work with their customers to achieve this goal.

Over the last 15 years, the H2 team has been privileged to work with outstanding clients. Their focus is to remain their trusted partner for the 15 years ahead.

*the name comes from hydrogen (H2), element number 1 in the periodic table.