In 2020, Borealis’ circular economy goals were to:
During 2020, Borealis:
The versatile properties of plastics enable a wide range of products and applications which make daily life safer, more eco-efficient, more sustainable and more convenient. These properties help to ensure more sustainable living, while the global population grows and demand for plastics increases.
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 continue to transition to a circular economy, where dependence on fossil fuel is reduced and more 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, and in particular the oceans as well as to landfill. The circular economy will also reduce global warming, since greenhouse gas emissions of products can, for example, be lowered by 30% using recyclates instead of virgin feedstock.
The creation of a truly circular economy 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. A circular economy will also result in more sustainable living and working conditions and a cleaner environment in general.
A fully circular economy, in which waste and pollution no longer exist, also offers much promise for achieving numerous UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12) and, due to keeping plastics out of the environment and oceans, Life below Water (SDG 14).
Borealis expanded the organisation supporting its circular economy efforts in 2020, alongside increased focus on and investment in its circular economy business. The Circular Economy Innovation Studio in Borealis’ Innovation Headquarters in Linz remains the Group’s spearhead for technology and innovation, but adaptations have been made on the business side.
In 2020, Borealis implemented a dedicated business team that is fully focused on short to mid-term opportunities in mechanical recycling, including the Group’s mtm plastics and Ecoplast businesses. A separate team also looks into mid to long-term strategic topics outside the scope of mechanical recycling. This setup enables Borealis to develop market and customer centric recycling solutions, while extending its activities in the circular economy. The Circular Economy Innovation Studio and the business teams are closely aligned with other relevant functions, such as Public Affairs.
Borealis is fully committed to advancing the circular economy. The circular economy is one of the 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 its customers a broad portfolio of circular products and solutions, based on different technologies. In particular, the principles of recycling plastic waste, designing products for recyclability and reusability where possible, while maximising resource efficiency, present clear business opportunities for Borealis.
In order to transition towards a truly circular and carbon neutral economy, Borealis believes in a variety of solutions. As the diagram above illustrates, Borealis follows a holistic strategy and all of its circular economy initiatives are positioned under the EverMinds™ umbrella.
Borealis prioritises products and solutions which are designed for circularity and re-use. One of the biggest issues preventing greater recycling of plastics is that many products are not designed for recycling in the first place. For example, flexible packaging often uses multiple layers of different materials to protect and preserve the packaged goods, which due, to their incompatibility during the recycling process, makes separating and recycling those plastic layers extremely difficult. The challenge is to create packaging using only one (mono) material, while maintaining or even improving the packaging’s performance.
To promote design for recyclability in the solutions it offers, Borealis has developed 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.
In addition, Borealis applies its considerable innovation activities to offer alternatives to materials and material combinations that are not recyclable today, for example by creating polyolefin grades to substitute polyamide (PA) and polyethylenterephthalate (PET) in flexible packaging. The Group also continues to collaborate with strategic value chain partners to expand its range of monomaterial solutions and is actively investigating the potential for reuse applications, including spearheading an innovative new pilot to test the advantages of a double-closed-loop reuse and recycling system.
Closely linked with Borealis’ work on design for recyclability are the Group’s efforts to advance polyolefins recycling. 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. 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 market demand for high-quality recyclate that helps producers and brand owners to meet environmental and regulatory challenges. Borcycle™ stands for transforming polyolefin-based 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. The existing products of Borealis’ mtm and Ecoplast businesses are being continuously upgraded and two new commercial grades where launched during 2020. In addition, they have been supplemented by the Borcycle™ M portfolio, which leverages the Group’s expertise as an integrated virgin and recycling player. Under the Borcycle™ M brand, Borealis also continues to develop unique virgin-recyclate compound solutions for diverse applications and two new grades were launched during 2020. For example, the rPP Borcycle™ M portfolio for rigid packaging now comprises six grades with different recycling content percentages.
As a scalable and modular technology, Borcycle™ C represents the portfolio of chemically recycled polyolefins and is a promising alternative to energy recovery and where mechanical recycling is limiting, for example, for very demanding applications such as food-contact materials. The cooperation with OMV on the innovative ReOil® project is a key area of the Borealis Circular Economy Strategy and several product developments are in the pipeline. The increase in OMV’s ownership of Borealis to 75% will allow the companies to combine the strengths of two enterprises, breaking new ground together to advance the circular economy. In particular, the work carried out by both companies on chemical recycling will now be taken forward with combined strength.
To supplement its recycling business and in line with a holistic view on the circular economy, in 2020, Borealis launched its Bornewables portfolio, consisting of polyolefin solutions based on renewable feedstock and supported by its collaboration with Neste on renewable feedstock. Borealis hit an important milestone for both its Borcycle™ C and Bornewables business by certifying five European polyolefin production locations in Austria, Belgium, Finland and Sweden to the ISCC PLUS standard.
Borealis’ vision for a circular economy can only become reality with step-changes in research and technology. The Group therefore continues to invest in expanding in its innovation capabilities and secured a significant European Investment Bank loan for this undertaking. Borealis’ innovation journey towards more circularity also includes digitalisation as an enabler and the first pilot projects were concluded during 2020, with blockchain technology being one notable example.
All these activities under the EverMinds umbrella align with Borealis’ polyolefins ambition to become a leading “plastic-neutral” producer of advanced and sustainable polyolefin solutions. The concept of plastic neutrality refers to a truly circular economy, where plastics produced with fossil-based feedstocks will be offset, for example, by recovering the same amount of plastic waste.
To achieve this, it is imperative that the entire value chain collaborates. A circular polyolefins industry implies that all products are designed for recyclability, while an increasing amount of quality waste streams become 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. Borealis uses its EverMinds platform to facilitate this change and to unite value chain partners and other stakeholders. The latest addition during 2020 was the launch of the EverMinds blog as a means to enable more dialogue on plastics circularity.
The implementation of Borealis’ circular economy vision entails a considerable redesign of the way the industry works and several risks need to be mitigated. For example, working standards in the waste and recycling industry do not live up to chemical industry standards. The industrialisation of the recycling industry means working standards need to be improved, with stronger health and safety considerations in the production environment. Product safety is another area where the recycling industry needs to raise standards and get closer to the standards of the virgin 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.
Founded on the principles of Reduce – Reuse – Recycle, Borealis has initiated a pilot project with its value-chain partners to replace the 1.5 million single-use cups used annually at four of its Belgian sites with 30,000 reusable EcoCore® cups. The pilot first reduces the weight of plastics through these extremely lightweight cups, then reuses them to maximise their lifetime, before seeking to recycle them back into cups. Replacing 1.5 million single-use cups with 30,000 reusable cups, weighing 15 grammes each, results in a material saving of 4.2 tons of single-use plastic per year and reduces plastic material use by a factor of 20. Many reuse initiatives today focus on the consumer, such as reusable cup schemes run by high-street coffee shops. Schemes like this can have a relatively low uptake as the burden is on the consumer to decide whether or not to reuse a cup. In the business environment, reuse schemes are even less prevalent and there is widespread consumption of single-use plastic cups. By using a double-closed loop, the pilot aims to make reuse schemes more sustainable and economically viable.
Borealis and MENSHEN, a leading specialist in plastic closures and packaging systems, have collaborated on a series of ten packaging closures based on Borcycle solutions. Borcycle technology is used to manufacture a range of compounds made of recycled polyolefins, which are ideal for use in sophisticated rigid packaging applications. These packaging solutions are predominantly made for use in laundry and homecare.
MENSHEN employs a rigorous process to ensure that the quality of the post-consumer recycled (PCR) material selected for a closure aligns perfectly with its required functionality. Out of the Borcycle™ M portfolio, Borealis and MENSHEN determined that Borcycle™ UG522MO, a polypropylene (PP) compound made of 50% PCR content, would be the ideal choice for the new closures. This compound offers a potential reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 15% compared to using comparable virgin PP, as well as consistent high quality, processability-rivalling virgin polyolefins and excellent end-of-life recyclability in existing PCR streams.
In 2019, Borealis participated in Project Holy Grail, which was led by Procter & Gamble and facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. As a full value-chain pre-competitive collaboration, the aim of Holy Grail was to discover how the tagging of packaging affects the accuracy of sorting and recycling systems. The project successfully concluded at the “Digital Watermarks at Work” event, which included a live demonstration of an add-on module to an existing sorting unit. Borealis played a key role in the realisation of the demonstration.
In 2020, the branded goods industry stepped in to facilitate the next phase as a cross-value chain initiative under the name “HolyGrail 2.0”, which will have much greater scale and scope. The project, under the auspices of AIM, the European Brands Association, brings together over 85 companies and organisations from across the packaging value chain, including Borealis. The project will include the launch of an industrial pilot, to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for more accurate sorting of packaging and higher-quality recycling as well as the business case at large scale.
In 2020, Borealis reached an important milestone on its circular transition journey, in particular for its Borcycle™ C and Bornewables businesses by gaining the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) for five European polyolefin production sites. The remaining German site is planned to be certified within the first quarter of 2021. ISCC PLUS is a global standard for recycled and bio-based materials, providing traceability along the supply chain and verifying companies to meet specific environmental and social standards, thereby creating a chain of custody. This enables Borealis to certify its mass balanced production of renewable and chemically recycled feedstocks, with a mass balance approach crucial to transitioning towards a more circular economy for the chemical industry. ISCC PLUS certification also enables Borealis to produce and offer a renewable PO range of circular products and renewable hydrocarbons, such as ethylene, propylene, C4s and acetone, to the market for the first time.
During 2020, Borealis started to produce polypropylene (PP) based on Neste-produced renewable feedstock in its production facilities in Kallo and Beringen, Belgium. This marks the first time that Borealis has replaced fossil fuel-based feedstock in its large-scale commercial production of PP. Along with this commercialisation, Borealis also launched the Bornewables portfolio of circular polyolefin products. These premium polyolefins offer the same material performance as virgin polyolefins, but are derived entirely from waste and residue streams, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.
The Bornewables portfolio is an important extension of Borealis’ existing range of value-adding polyolefins and the materials can be used in a wide range of applications in all industries. This includes the most demanding applications, such as hygiene and food contact. These innovative and more circular products will help Borealis’ customers to meet their own sustainability targets, while maintaining existing quality standards.
The entire Bornewables portfolio has been ISCC Plus certified, ensuring the traceability of the renewable and sustainably produced feedstock from its point of origin through the entire chain of custody.
Together with Porsche, Covestro, Domo Chemicals and blockchain start-up Circularise, Borealis collaborated on a pilot to enable the traceability of plastics in the automotive sector. By digitising materials all the way to the final car, Circularise was able to create a digital thread through the whole supply chain, enabling material traceability and tracking the CO2 footprint and other sustainability metrics, such as water savings. The successful pilot demonstrated the potential of blockchain as an enabling technology, as getting the information needed for a circular supply chain is a major challenge today. This is due to the inherent complexity of supply chains, which can contain a multitude of suppliers, as well as concerns around trust, privacy and confidentiality. Blockchain offers a fitting solution to these transparency challenges.
In order to implement its ambitious innovation agenda for the circular economy, Borealis is investing heavily to expand its capabilities. In 2020, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Borealis successfully closed a benchmark financing agreement that supports Borealis’ research, development and innovation programme in the circular economy sphere. The EIB will provide a EUR 250 million loan supporting Borealis’ multi-year investment programme in the area of plastics circularity, in line with its objectives to support innovation, climate action and sustainability. The loan enables Borealis to intensify the development of novel, polyolefins-based circular solutions at its Innovation Centres in Austria, Sweden and Finland.
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.
Furthermore, Borealis is engaged in several innovative projects with a longer-term horizon, which might usher in the circular economy of tomorrow. A prime example is the cooperation with Lafarge Zementwerke (a member of LafargeHolcim Group), OMV and VERBUND, where the partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint planning and construction of a full-scale plant by 2030 to capture CO2 and process it into synthetic fuels, plastics or other chemicals. Once up and running, this innovative project has the potential to significantly reduce emissions from cement production and establish the greenhouse gas CO2 as a valuable raw material for Borealis to manufacture value-added plastics.
