Business News
Borealis presents pilot projects enhancing the use of polyolefins recyclates
Monday 01. November 2010 - Borealis first pilot projects to enhance the use of recycled polyolefins highlights a shopping cart and basket made from recycled PP with Borealis enhanced PP for recycling.
At K2010, Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, presents the company’s first pilot projects to enhance the use of recycled polyolefins. The project highlights a shopping cart and shopping basket made from a combination of recycled polypropylene (PP) with Borealis’ enhanced polypropylene (PP) grades for recycling, achieving the same superior material characteristics while significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the applications.
The development of the company’s first pro-recyclates grades PP4R 500 and PP4R 100 is another milestone in Borealis’ strategy to investigate different options to support the recycling of its advanced polyolefins solutions.
The shopping carts are made of a combination of 67% high impact PP4R 500 PP and 33% recycled PP material. The shopping baskets are made of 75% recycled PP and 25% PP4R 100. Both grades are enhanced grades developed by Borealis to meet the requirements for use in a combination with recycled material.
The environmental benefits of both pilot applications are significant. The use of recycled PP delivers a 15% improvement in the carbon footprint of the shopping cart and a 30% decrease for the shopping basket. Both pilots were manufactured with the support of Italian moulder Sistemi 2000, who see a demand for this kind of solution by supermarket chains in Italy. In both cases the recycled PP material was produced from mixed PP post-consumer waste.
“Developing outlets for recycled polyolefins is essential for the future of both polyolefin and the recycling industries,” says Gerd Löbbert, Borealis Executive Vice President for Polyolefins. “With this pilot project, we are investigating the development of sustainable and innovative solutions that enable the combination of recycled PP with our advanced polypropylene material.”
“We see many synergies between advanced polyolefin solutions and quality recyclables,” Thierry Chevrier, Borealis Vice President for the Moulding Business Unit, continues. “Our solutions and technical expertise are complementary to the use of recyclates to meet performance and aesthetic requirements for many applications.”
“I am very pleased about this agreement,” says Sergio Lupi, President of Revolution Gruppo Sistemi 2000. “The fact that Borealis, a leading polyolefins producer world-wide, is engaging in the re-use of plastics that have come to the end of their lifetime means that recycling is changing into a wide practice, expanding to every sector. Since the beginning, our philosophy has always been to embrace recycling, waste reduction and care for the environment; we are really satisfied, that these values are globally shared.”