Borealis has combined with Borouge and NOVA Chemicals to form Borouge International, a new global polyolefins leader.
Imagine a salad that’s actually worth leaving your desk for. Fresh, crisp, and colorful, eaten in the sunshine with a hint of spring in the air. The only thing to spoil the moment is the packaging, destined for the trash after a single use. But what if takeaway didn’t have to mean single-use?
Salads taste better when they don’t come in single-use packaging
© Kesko / Anton Geier
In Finland, as in many European countries, return deposit systems are already part of everyday life. Bottles are returned, cleaned, refilled, and put back on the shelves. It’s a system that’s familiar and effective.
Now, this same idea is being tested for takeaway food. In a new pilot in Espoo, Finland, customers at selected HOK-Elanto and K Group stores can choose a reusable, deposit-based takeaway box instead of a disposable one, to fill with either a freshly prepared meal or something from the salad bar.
Customers at selected HOK-Elanto and K Group stores can fill reusable takeaway boxes with fresh meals, then return them to be cleaned and used again.
© Kesko / Anton Geier
Around 10,000 reusable boxes have been produced for the pilot by our long-term partner Orthex Group, using polypropylene (PP) from Borealis, now part of Borouge International . For this specific applications, we selected the Bornewables™ portfolio — our range of ISCC PLUS-certified renewable polyolefins derived from waste and residue streams that deliver the same material performance as virgin polyolefins, but with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. The material is designed for food contact applications and offers the durability needed to withstand repeated use and washing while maintaining quality and safety.
After use, the box is returned via dedicated collection points, located next to bottle return machines, and sent for cleaning before being put back into circulation.
The pilot, known as Kiertis, is part of Reusify project, launched under the Borealis-led SPIRIT program. Funded by Business Finland, SPIRIT brought together industry and research partners to advance circular solutions for plastics. While the program formally concluded at the end of 2025, projects initiated under it, including Reusify, continue to explore how reusable packaging systems can be developed and scaled.
Reuse is a topic that’s becoming increasingly important as regulatory requirements evolve. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) sets targets to reduce packaging waste and increase reuse, including measures to expand the use of reusable packaging for takeaway food applications. Meeting these targets will depend on systems that work in practice for customers, retailers, and all partners involved.
A simple return system keeps packaging in use—and out of the trash.
© Kesko / Anton Geier
That’s why collaboration is central to this pilot, which brings together partners from across the value chain, including retailers, packaging and labeling specialists, material suppliers, logistics and cleaning providers, digital tracking partners, and system operators responsible for collection and reuse.
The pilot will not deliver a finished system. Instead, it is designed to generate insights into how customers use and return the boxes, how many reuse cycles they can withstand, and how the logistics and cleaning systems perform. Together, these learnings will help build a clearer picture of what it takes to make reuse work at scale, so that we can all enjoy our salads in the sunshine without a trip to the trash afterward.
"This pilot is a key step in developing reuse systems that work in everyday life. We’re proud to support it with our Bornewables™ materials, which are designed to deliver the durability and safety needed for reusable applications. It’s another example of how we’re making everyday life easier"
Peter Voortmans, Borealis Polymers N.V. Vice President Marketing Consumer Products
“For reusable food packaging, performance over multiple use cycles is critical. It needs to maintain its quality, safety, and appearance throughout its life. But the packaging itself is only one element in a larger system. This pilot is valuable because it tests how the entire system works in practice — for customers, stores and the environment - and how to make circular packaging easy in everyday life."
Hanna Kukkonen, Orthex Group Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer