Abu Dhabi’s Borouge joins ocean plastic waste programme Project STOP

LONDON (ICIS)–Borouge, the Abu Dhabi polymers producer, has joined Project STOP, the programme co-founded by parent company Borealis to prevent ocean plastic leakage.

Borouge is 40% owned by the Austrian polymers and fertilizers major, with the remaining 60% belonging to Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC.

Other members of Project STOP include the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NOVA Chemicals, Nestle and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW).

Project STOP is working with local municipalities and environmental agencies in southeast Asia to develop a circular waste management infrastructure through city partnership projects in Indonesia.

“Selling products that with some probability will leak into the environment is no longer a tenable proposition for the plastic industry,” said Martin Stuchtey, managing partner at Systemiq, the other co-founder.

“Instead, the industry must take the lead in building close loop systems that ensure no plastic waste flows into the environment.”

Since 2018, when Project STOP first formed a city partnership with Muncar, Indonesia, around 1,800 tonnes of waste have been collected, of which 300 tonnes was plastic.

It has also has signed a partnership with Jembrana, in the Indonesian island of Bali, while a third city project is currently being negotiated.

“With these three cities Project STOP will reach 450,000 people and prevent 80,000 tonnes of waste leaking into the ocean every year,” it said.