Craig Halgreen, head of sustainability and public affairs at Borealis, said at the GPCA annual meeting in Dubai on Tuesday that renewable polymers will be a major growth market for the future.
According to Halgreen, Borealis is the only polyolefin producer with two recycling companies and the first large plastics manufacturer to sign the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's new plastics economics program.
On a global scale, the industry is taking steps to limit plastic waste and improve recyclability.
The European Commission's European plastics strategy aims to increase the recyclables in plastic packaging to 55% by 2030. Halgreen believes that the level of recyclable ingredients available in plastic packaging is 22.5%.
In other parts of the world, India promises to ban all disposable plastics by 2022, while Indonesia plans to reduce plastic waste in the entire archipelago by 70% by 2025.
The Gulf Cooperation Council “is in desperate need to improve its recycling capacity,” Halgreen said at the Dubai event. He added that it is also necessary to stop exporting waste overseas.