The infrastructure industry is under pressure to deliver systems that are long-lasting, easy to install, and meet tightening environmental standards. At Borealis, we help customers meet these goals by focusing on four strategic pillars: Innovation, Peace of Mind, Efficiency, and Sustainability.
Borealis’ We4Customers (We4C) Strategy puts our customers at the center of everything we do.
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In this interview, Andreas Zöller, Global Vice President Polyethylene Solutions, and John Webster, Head of Marketing Infrastructure, explain how these focus areas translate into practical support and long-term value for infrastructure partners around the world.
Andreas Zöller:
For infrastructure customers, peace of mind means confidence that our materials will perform over decades—and trust in us as a long-term partner.
We’ve been active in this industry since 1967, and pipes made with our materials have been in use for 30, 40, and even 50 years. That kind of track record is possible because of the quality of our materials.
Take our BorSafe™ portfolio, for example—a family of polyethylene (PE) pressure grades designed for drinking water, gas, heating, and industrial fluid pipes. These durable, corrosion-resistant materials can deliver a service life of over 100 years.
We’ve worked with these materials, as well as our other infrastructure grades, in countless applications and understand how they perform in real projects. This experience helps customers feel confident their systems will perform as expected—decade after decade.
Andreas Zöller: We ensure reliable supply through our global footprint, which includes our joint ventures: Borouge in the Middle East and, in near future, Baystar® in the US. Our operations are built around robust plant design and decades of experience with large-scale production, which means our customers can count on consistent availability and quality.
John Webster:
We do this through our proprietary state-of-the-art Borstar® technology, which is also the basis for our BorSafe™ portfolio.
It’s a proprietary multi-modal process for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) that allows us to fine-tune the molecular structure of a material to meet very specific performance needs—for example, long-term pressure strength, stress crack resistance, and reliable processability.
All of these qualities are especially valuable for our infrastructure customers, who’re building systems that need to last for decades. And we’re continually advancing this technology to deliver even greater value for our customers.
John Webster: We collaborate with industry organizations like The European Pipes and Fittings Association (TEPPFA), the leading voice of the plastic pipe and fitting systems industry in Europe, and the PE100+ Association, which promotes the use of PE100 materials. These relationships keep us closely connected to new technical developments and evolving regulations—so we can help our customers prepare for changes like the revised EU Drinking Water Directive.
We also host events and webinars that bring together external experts and our in-house teams to offer a complete view of emerging topics. In a recent session on the mass balance approach, customers could learn directly about circular materials, certification, and regulatory context, all in one place. It’s an efficient way to help them make informed choices and move quickly.
Andreas Zöller: When we talk about efficiency in pipe systems, it’s important to take a broad view—looking at the full lifecycle rather than isolated stages. That means assessing how materials perform during installation, how long they last in use, and what they cost over time. Real efficiency comes from reducing resource use, avoiding disruption, and lowering the total cost of ownership.
This is exactly what our technical support teams and state-of-the-art materials deliver. Our solutions support a wide range of installation methods, including trenchless techniques like directional drilling. That helps reduce excavation, minimize surface disruption, and keep projects on track.
And the benefits don’t stop at installation. Our materials are designed to last, so customers deal with fewer failures, less maintenance, and don’t need to replace pipes as often. That translates into lower total system costs over the long term, which is where the real efficiency lies.
Andreas Zöller: We’ve developed our digital MyBorealis solution to make day-to-day work easier for our customers. It puts everything in one place—orders, documentation, product data, and support—so they can find what they need quickly and easily. That kind of visibility and control helps keep projects on schedule and reduces administration time. It’s one of the ways we’re making it more efficient to work with us—not just through materials, but across the full customer experience.
John Webster: For infrastructure, sustainability is about supporting our customers to build long-lasting systems that reduce environmental impact over their full lifecycle.
We do this in several ways. Compared to traditional materials like metal or concrete, our solutions have a significantly lower carbon footprint. That’s partly because they’re lightweight, which reduces emissions during transport and installation, and they also take less energy to produce.
Our PE and PP grades are designed for durability. For pressure pipes, that includes PE100-RC materials that resist corrosion and slow crack growth, and are expected to last more than 100 years—meaning fewer replacements.
Our materials also support no-dig installation methods, which minimize surface disruption and reduce emissions during construction—resulting in lower overall environmental impact.
Finally, we offer circular solutions based on renewable and recycled feedstocks—both chemically and mechanically recycled. These help customers reduce Scope 3 emissions while maintaining performance.
John Webster: One example is a recent project in Vienna with Pipelife, a solution brand of wienerberger, and Wiener Wasser, where more than 600 meters of drinking water pipe were produced using materials from our Borcycle™ C portfolio—virgin-quality polyolefins made from chemically recycled feedstock. The pipe contained over 90% recycled content and met all required performance standards, so there was no need for requalification.
Another example is ISOPLUS®, who are using our Bornewables™ polyethylene, based on renewable feedstock, in their pre-insulated pipes for district heating. In both projects, the use of circular materials helped reduce the carbon footprint—without any impact on design, installation, or performance.
Borealis polyolefin infrastructure solutions for pipes and fittings are enabling life’s essentials
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