Borealis uses art to create awareness for marine litter

At its Innovation Headquarters in Linz, Austria, Borealis is using a creative approach to draw attention to the global problem of marine litter. A larger-than-life installation extending across the building’s foyer depicts the skeleton of a huge fish, filled to the gills with plastic waste. Below the sculpture, ant-like creatures can be seen carrying single-use plastic items away for recycling.

Borealis commissioned artists Saba Tsereteli and Claire Chaulet of the Berlin-based artists network Artistania to create a unique work that dramatises the issue of plastic litter in marine environments. The installation is intended to spark discussion and debate. Ultimately, it should heighten awareness of the need for all of us to use and dispose of plastics in a more sustainable way.

“This installation motivates each of us to reflect on the issue of marine litter and plastic debris,” says Alfred Stern, Borealis CEO. “At the same time, it also points to what Borealis is doing to alleviate the problem. We can address the negative image of plastics by offering viable solutions like recycling.”

Borealis is an industry leader in its efforts to implement the principles of a circular economy in plastics, meaning a system in which plastics are re-used, recycled, or used for energy recovery. The company is committed to a fourfold increase by 2025 in the number of recycled plastics solutions it can offer. With its acquisition of plastics recyclers mtm and Ecoplast in 2016 and 2018, respectively, Borealis aims to become the industry’s recycling technology leader.

Around 80% of the estimated 12 metric tonnes of plastics that end up in the oceans every year originates on land; around 50% of this is produced by only five Asian countries. To tackle the problem at the source, Borealis teamed up with consultancy SYSTEMIQ in 2017 to launch Project STOP. This initiative works closely with municipal authorities in Indonesia to address the challenges of waste management, and is now being scaled up to include other cities across the country, thanks in part to support from the initiative’s other leading partners, including Borouge, Nestlé, Nova Chemicals, Veolia, and the Norwegian Government.

“We are already seeing remarkable changes in the way waste is being handled in the Indonesian fishing city of Muncar, where Project STOP began,” says Craig Halgreen, Borealis Director Sustainability & Public Affairs. “It is critical to address the issue where the environmental impact is the greatest. Borealis is committed to accelerating the uptake of effective waste management in those regions of the world where it is needed the most.”

For further information, please contact sustainability@borealisgroup.com.

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