Riyadh-based chemical producer Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) won the Circularity Award at the prestigious Sustainability Leadership Award by the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
Every year, ACC recognises companies in four categories – Product Safety, Innovation and Transparency, Environmental Protection and Social Responsibility and Community Engagement, and Circularity.
SABIC received the 2023 Circularity Award for implementing effective solutions using recovered and recycled ocean bound plastic (OBP).
OBP is abandoned plastic waste found in areas up to 50 km inland from waterways and at risk of eventually being washed into the ocean by rainfall, rivers or tides.
SABIC’s collaborative efforts in OBP recovery and reuse
The project, which also contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 ‘Life Below Water’, includes collaboration with HHI, a Malaysia-based plastics recycling company, in recovery and reuse of OBP through dedicated value chain collaboration.
The agreement is in partnership with Polivouga, a European manufacturer of flexible packaging film products, and Nueva Pescanova Group, a leading Spanish food brand, in developing the world’s first frozen food packaging using certified circular polyethylene resin from SABIC’s TruCircle programme with OBP-based feedstock; and collaboration with Scientex, a major Asian manufacturer of flexible packaging, in introducing the world’s first flexible premium brand noodle packs made from SABIC certified polypropylene resin based on OBP.
The OBP used in the above collaborations is recovered and then converted to pyrolysis oil in an advanced recycling process. SABIC uses this oil as an alternative feedstock to produce certified circular polymers for new high-quality applications.
The OBP feedstock is certified under the Zero Plastic Oceans programme.
Abdullah Al Otaibi, General Manager, ETP and Market Solutions at SABIC, commented: “We are very proud to receive this prestigious distinction. It acknowledges the importance of collaborative efforts to enable the recovery and reuse of OBP as feedstock in the production of new polymer resins.
“By driving these successful collaboration projects with industry players, we can demonstrate that advanced recycling can be effective to convert OBP that could potentially enter our waterways and oceans, into a valuable feedstock to produce high quality food contact packaging.”
Follow us on
