Waste & Resource Efficiency

Advancing waste management and stopping plastic leakage to the ocean in South-East Asia

Borealis and SYSTEMIQ have joined forces on a new initiative to stop plastic waste leaking into the environment, improve public health and ultimately drive resource efficiency through a circular economy of plastics in South-East Asia.

To learn more about the project, watch this video and visit the Project STOP website.

Improving waste management and the lives of waste pickers

Borealis supports Ashoka, an international association that helps social entrepreneurs to realise their innovative ideas for tackling the world’s biggest challenges, including improving waste collection systems in emerging and developing countries.

In many of these countries, existing waste management systems are ineffective. This is often due to rapid growth in consumption as the population rises, coupled with little enforcement of existing laws. The lack of formal systems gives rise to an informal waste sector, where waste pickers comb through dumps for items of value, frequently in conditions that threaten their health and safety.

Albina Ruiz Rios from Peru is one of the social entrepreneurs supported by Ashoka. She helps waste pickers to care for themselves, through her organisation Ciudad Saludable, by providing training, vaccines, health care and safe working clothes for them. Protecting their health allows the waste pickers to focus on being entrepreneurs themselves, improving their living standards.

In Chile, Gonzalo Muñoz and his company Triciclos engage waste pickers in improving recycling. His idea is that the more people benefit from recycling, the more people will recycle. By improving recycling rates, Triciclos reduces the amount of waste going to landfill or into the air or water courses, while giving opportunities for street workers to increase their income and their dignity.