Within the linear economic model, plastic products are made, used and eventually disposed of. Continuing with this model will lead to more plastic waste and environmental pollution, while putting pressure on the planet’s limited resources.
The solution is to transition to a circular economy, where dependence on fossil feedstock is reduced and plastics are reused, recycled and/or made from renewable feedstock. A circular economy decouples economic growth from resource constraints, while reducing the leakage of waste into the environment, in particular the oceans, as well as to landfill. The circular economy will also reduce global warming, since greenhouse gas emissions of products will be lowered by using mechanical and chemically recycled material instead of virgin feedstock.
The creation of a truly circular economy also has wider implications. It will provide economic benefits to society by reducing the significant financial burden of ineffective waste management systems and pollution management, and it will create new business opportunities and employment at various stages of the value chain.
The circular economy is one of three focus areas in the Group’s Sustainability Strategy, alongside Energy & Climate and Health & Safety, all of which are important pillars in the Borealis Strategy 2035. In addition to the environmental and social benefits outlined above, the Group sees the circular economy as a business opportunity which will support its growth ambitions. Borealis is therefore working towards offering an alternative to the linear make-use-dispose economy. The Group already has a growing circular economy product portfolio, under the Borcycle M, Borcycle C and The Bornewables brands.
To accelerate its transformation to a circular model, the Group has a dedicated department called Circular Economy Solutions and New Business Development. This group leads the execution of Borealis’ Circular Economy strategy, around several thematic project focus areas, such as chemical recycling or design for recyclability, as well as supporting all other Borealis business areas in the industry-specific transformation.
This setup enables Borealis to constantly learn and push innovation boundaries, while the business grows with customer-centric circular solutions, satisfying today’s needs. The Circular Economy Innovation Studio in Borealis’ Innovation Headquarters in Linz, Austria, remains the Group’s spearhead for technology and innovation.
As a consequence of the OMV Group acquiring a majority holding in Borealis, the companies have joined forces to expedite the transition from a linear to a circular economy. Several circular economy areas, for example, chemical recycling, are now being jointly developed.
To transition to a truly circular and carbon-neutral economy, a variety of solutions will be required to keep products circulating at their highest value, quality and utility over many lifetimes. Borealis therefore believes in using a full suite of carefully chosen technologies, in a complementary and cascading way, to achieve circularity through the following hierarchy:
Borealis’ commercial and technology efforts are demonstrated through its circular cascade approach.
The Borealis foam business is a prime example of eco-efficient polyolefin solutions. This business line is used in industries such as packaging, sports, transport and construction, and helps facilitate the transition to a circular economy as it is especially suited to ultra-lightweight foam applications while being fully recyclable.
Another example is the Borealis material used to manufacture lightweight, insulated, durable and recyclable packaging for single-use and reusable applications, utilising Bockatech’s patented EcoCore® technology.
To develop and advance Borealis’ position on the topic of reuse, the Group has been engaging with start-ups and collaborative projects. For example, Borealis has been working with a Finnish start-up, Kamupak, to accelerate the use of reusable takeaway packaging in Helsinki, Finland. A three-month pilot began in April 2021 in around ten locations across Helsinki, during which time the environmental impacts of the KamuCup reusable cup were evaluated and data and feedback were collected, both from the coffee houses and restaurants and customers.
In Belgium, Borealis worked together with start-up Quppa to develop RFID identifiable cups and bowls, which are traced on a digital reuse platform developed by Borealis Digital Studio. This provides insight to Borealis and its partners on the optimal design of reuse systems and reuse products to ensure scalability. The data also serves to demonstrate the transparency of the reuse system performance versus the single-use system that it replaced.
To promote design for recyclability, Borealis is actively promoting 10 Codes of Conduct for polyolefin packaging designers. These are being incorporated into assessment methodologies for recyclability, for example, in future modulated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidelines for packaging. Borealis also applies its innovation activities to offer alternatives to materials and material combinations that are not recyclable today. In addition, the Group collaborates with strategic value chain partners to expand its range of monomaterial solutions and is actively investigating the potential for reuse applications.
The Group’s efforts to advance polyolefin recycling are closely linked to Borealis’ work on design for recyclability. Borealis has committed to producing up to 350,000 tonnes of recycled plastics per year by 2025, which will help the Group to transition from a model based on the extraction of fossil resources towards one based on the circulation of materials. During 2021, Borealis has sold 91,000 tonnes of circular material (recyclates and bio-based material) while succeeding to build a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes. To support this transition, Borealis is building up its Borcycle portfolio (including both Borcycle M, based on mechanical recycling processes, and Borcycle C, using chemical recycling technology) to meet growing demand for high-quality recyclate that helps producers and brand owners to meet environmental and regulatory challenges. Borcycle stands for transforming plastic-waste streams into value-adding, high-performance and versatile solutions for demanding applications.
A key part of Borealis’ Circular Economy Strategy is an advanced mechanical recycling business. During 2021, Borealis and its partners TOMRA and Zimmerman opened an advanced mechanical recycling pre-commercial line to demonstrate its vision and showcase its capabilities. New Borcycle M grades have been launched based on this platform during 2021.
Borcycle C provides an important alternative to energy recovery and is suitable for very demanding applications such as food contact materials. Borealis’ cooperation with OMV and its proprietary chemical recycling technology is key to the Group’s Circular Economy Strategy and is supplemented by cooperation with other value chain members, such as the Group’s investment in the Belgian recycling company Renasci, which created the innovative Smart Chain Processing concept.
During 2021, Borealis continued to commercialise its Bornewables portfolio. The locations in Kallo and Beringen (Belgium), Schwechat (Austria), Porvoo (Finland), Stenungsund (Sweden) and Burghausen (Germany) were ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) PLUS-certified, giving Borealis six accredited European production locations. This gives the Group an even broader production base for mass balanced products, such as the Bornewables and Borcycle C product ranges.
With the new Life-Cycle Assessment published in 2021, Borealis demonstrated that Bornewables is especially suited to reducing carbon emissions. The assessment showed that greenhouse gas emissions of Bornewables polypropylene produced at Kallo and Beringen go beyond carbon neutrality and can be reduced cradle-to-gate (meaning all the steps from the sourcing of raw materials to products leaving Borealis’ production site) by at least 120% compared to fossil-based polypropylene. This is possible while offering the same high-performance levels as virgin polyolefins and the ability to be recycled in the same way.
To expedite the circular transition of the polyolefins industry, it is imperative that the entire value chain collaborates. A circular polyolefins industry implies that all products are designed for recyclability, while quality waste streams become increasingly available for recycling operations. Higher waste collection rates and further improvements to the efficiency of waste sorting are prerequisites to advancing the Group’s recycling agenda. The willingness of converters and brand owners to value high percentages of recycled content in their products is equally important.
All Borealis initiatives which demonstrate clear progress in the circular economy are positioned under the EverMinds™ platform. The platform stands for accelerating and celebrating action and progress in the circular economy with partnerships. Borealis uses EverMinds to facilitate change and to unite value chain partners and other stakeholders. During 2021, plans for value chain activities had to be adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Waste management and the way plastic waste is collected in Europe is a key concern for the entire value chain, as all recycling technologies require the best-quality feedstock. Borealis strongly supports EPR, as a key vehicle for organising the collection and sorting of plastic waste and providing dedicated, ongoing and sufficient funding. Through EPR schemes, companies putting packaging on the market are required to pay for its collection, sorting and recycling after use. Borealis has therefore endorsed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s position paper on EPR.
Implementing Borealis’ circular economy vision entails a considerable redesign of the industry and several risks need to be mitigated. For example, health and safety standards in waste and recycling are not at the same high standards as the chemical industry. Product safety is another area where the recycling industry needs to raise standards and get closer to the standards of the established petrochemical industry. In addition, the overall attractiveness and profitability of the recycling business needs to increase through market incentives and legislative support. At the same time, the entire waste management and recycling industry must become more efficient.
During 2021, Borealis started to commercialise the first chemically recycled products, several renewable products and more mechanically recycled compound solutions. The Group also introduced new grades which enable the creation of monomaterial flexible polyolefin packaging, which are recyclable into high-quality new applications.
In 2021, Borealis launched over ten new products, with applications in the field of mobility, appliances, packaging and pipes.
Bockatech EcoCore® is a patented manufacturing technology that improves sustainability by creating lightweight, insulated, durable and recyclable packaging for single-use and reusable applications. The combination of Borealis’ polypropylene material and Bockatech technology is empowering the creation of low-cost reusable food and non-food packaging. Examples of this cooperation include Borealis’ own ‘closestheloop’ project, in which Borealis’ Belgium operations switched from single-use cups for coffee vending machines to a reuse distribution, collection and washing service, which resulted in a switch from 1.3 million single-use cups per annum to 40,000 reuse cups and raw material savings of up to 70%.
In December 2021, Borealis announced that it has acquired a minority stake in Bockatech, further deepening the existing partnership between the two companies.
At the start of 2021, Borealis and its partners TOMRA and Zimmermann opened their state-of-the-art mechanical recycling demonstration plant in Lahnstein, Germany. The plant processes both rigid and flexible plastic waste from households and is the result of a partnership that marries chemistry with technology. Unlike many current recycling plants, it will produce the advanced solutions necessary for use in highly demanding plastic applications in industries such as mobility and consumer products. With high purity, low odour, high product consistency and light colour fractions, these recycled polymers will meet customer quality requirements across the value chain.
The purpose of the demonstration plant is to generate material for brand owners and converters to validate for use in their highly demanding applications. Technical success will set the groundwork for a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant.
In April 2021, Borealis began a feasibility study for establishing a chemical recycling unit at its location in Stenungsund, Sweden. The aim is to secure an increased supply of chemically recycled feedstock for the production of more circular base chemicals and polyolefin-based products. The study is part-funded by a grant from the Swedish Energy Agency and is being carried out with Stena Recycling. It will evaluate the optimal technology for the chemical recycling unit and its integration with the cracker at Stenungsund. Stena Recycling will recover plastic waste and, after sorting to remove materials suitable for mechanical recycling, will deliver it to the new chemical recycling unit. Subject to a successful feasibility study and final investment decision, operations are expected to begin in 2024.
To increase its chemical recycling offerings, Borealis has entered into a partnership with Renasci N.V., a provider of innovative recycling solutions and creator of the novel Smart Chain Processing (SCP) concept. The SCP concept is a proprietary method (EP patent application approved) of maximising material recovery to achieve zero waste. It is unique because it enables the processing of multiple waste streams using different recycling technologies, all under one roof.
At the newly built Renasci SCP facility in Oostende, Belgium, mixed waste is automatically selected and sorted multiple times. After sorting, plastic waste is first mechanically recycled and any remaining material is chemically recycled into circular pyrolysis oil and lighter product fractions, which are used to fuel the process. Sorted non-plastic waste is further processed using other technologies. At the end of the process, only 5% of the original waste remains, which is then used as filler in construction materials. The extremely efficient processing reduces the carbon footprint of these waste streams by more than 30%.
As part of the agreement, Borealis will source a projected 20 kilotonnes of circular pyrolysis oil annually from Renasci’s Oostende facility and the Group also plans to purchase mechanically recycled material. Having acquired a 10% stake in the company, Borealis will collaborate closely with Renasci to evolve and scale up the SCP technology. This includes developing facilities which would source their feedstock entirely from household waste. The two companies also plan to identify and act on other promising investment opportunities in the circular economy sphere.
Swiss dairy company Emmi has partnered with Borealis and Greiner Packaging to produce Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE drinking cups using chemically recycled polypropylene. Emmi is Switzerland’s largest milk processor and has a goal to make all of its packaging 100% recyclable. It is also committed to promoting circularity, such as packaging that contains at least 30% recyclate by 2027. From September 2021, Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE will use at least 100 tonnes of plastic based on the recycled material each year.
The chemically recycled material used for the cup consists entirely of ISCC-certified material, on a mass balance basis. This provides transparency to consumers, enabling them to know that the product they are buying is based on this recycled material.
By using Borealis’ Bornewables portfolio, Greiner Packaging has for the first time incorporated renewable resources into the production of food cups made of polypropylene (PP), with in-mould labelling (IML) as the decoration technology. The Bornewables offer the same characteristics as virgin polyolefin materials, while boasting a substantially reduced carbon footprint, which can be up to 120% less than fossil-based PP.
The new prototype IML cups for dairy products are made of Bornewables monomaterial and were developed to be recycled as normal in conventional facilities, in line with the principle of design for recyclability. This is a great example of how the packaging specialists at Greiner Packaging take sustainability into account from the very start.
Dutch PPE Solutions, a joint venture between VDL Groep and Royal DSM, produces high-quality medical face masks and filter material. As Borealis is a leader in meltblown PP materials and renewable polyolefins, Dutch PPE Solutions has partnered with Borealis, enabling it to make its filter materials with Bornewables and green electricity. This significantly lowers its carbon footprint, allowing it to deliver high-quality filter materials while minimising its climate impact.
In July 2021, Borealis conducted a physical content test run of the Bornewables produced with measurable renewable content (via controlled blending) of bio-propane in the propane dehydrogenation unit in Kallo.
Since the successful test-run, Borealis is able to offer its customers Bornewables polypropylene with physical renewable content, which is fully measurable according to the C14 method for biogenic carbon content. This is in addition to offering mass balance for the manufacture of sustainable polyolefins.
Borealis is one of over 130 organisations representing the packaging value chain who have joined forces to assess whether a pioneering digital technology can enable better sorting and higher-quality recycling rates for packaging in the EU. The Group is a long-time partner of the “HolyGrail” project and joined the project’s leadership team during 2021. The project will now take place on a much greater scale and scope, including the launch of an industrial pilot to prove the viability of digital watermark technologies for more accurate sorting of packaging and higher-quality recycling, as well as the business case at large scale.
Shoe company On has partnered with Borealis and LanzaTech to create CleanCloud™, a sustainability initiative using carbon emissions to create foam for running shoes. On is the first company in the footwear industry to explore carbon emissions as a primary raw material for a shoe bottom unit as part of its move away from petroleum-based resources.
Technology from LanzaTech captures carbon monoxide emitted from industrial sources such as steel mills or from landfill sites. Once captured, these emissions enter a patented fermentation process, which converts the carbon-rich gas to liquid ethanol using specially selected bacteria. The ethanol is then dehydrated to create ethylene, which Borealis polymerises to become EVA (a copolymer of ethylene vinyl acetate), the versatile and lightweight material that On starts working with to create a performance foam for shoes.
During 2021, Borealis ran a series of nine webinars around sustainability and circular economy topics. The webinars were tailor-made for all industry clusters and were aimed at customers and value chain partners. Examples of the topics covered included Bornewables for use in appliances, healthcare, mobility and food packaging applications, as well as mechanical recycling for rigid and flexible consumer products and design for recyclability (DfR) in PE and PP flexible packaging. On average, each webinar had more than 500 registrations and an attendance rate of 50%.
Borealis also engages with value chain partners through industry groups. In 2021, Borealis retained its position of Steering Committee member in CEFLEX, the project to create a circular economy for flexible packaging in Europe, leading the value chain group of collection, sorting and recyclers. CEFLEX has over 175 members representing the entire flexible packaging value chain. It has established DfR guidelines specifically for small flexible packaging formats, which currently mostly end up in incineration.
Borealis remains fully committed to advancing the development of a broader and more circular offering. The Group will continue to expand its range of circular solutions, based on a growing range of technologies. As true circularity can only be implemented in a joint effort, Borealis will develop these solutions in close collaboration with partners across the value chain towards more sustainable living.
In 2022, Borealis will focus on the commercial ramping up of its existing circular portfolio to continuously progress towards its targets. This includes further investments in the advanced mechanical recycling facility in Lahnstein, Germany, to increase recycled material capacity to move closer to the 350 kilotonnes target.
Borealis will also continue exploring alternate business models such as closed-loop systems, and has an aspiration to publish long-term targets for its circular transition journey.
