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The modern world is a world of plastic. Four out of five objects around you are most likely created using petrochemicals: your laptop case, table covering, ballpoint pens, phone, headphones, clothes and shoes. The production of plastic is often more efficient and environmentally friendly than the production of other materials: for example, to make a paper bag, you need to spend 4 times more resources and energy than it takes to produce a plastic bag, said Mikhail Karisalov, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Sibur LLC, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum ( SPIEF ).

Plastic, which appeared in mass consumption only 60-70 years ago, has radically changed human life: it has expanded the boundaries of what is possible in design and industry and made previously expensive goods available. At the same time, it has become one of the most serious environmental problems for humanity. The main advantages of plastic - durability, strength and low price - have turned into its main disadvantages. In the middle of the 20th century, 2.5 billion people produced 1.5 million tons of plastic waste, today 7 billion people on the planet throw away 300 million tons of plastic waste, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN). Disposable tableware, beverage bags and bottles, car tires decompose for tens and even hundreds of years, polluting land and oceans. The problem is not in the plastic itself, Karisalov is sure, plastic with a short service life (for example, hygiene products) should be properly disposed of, and even better - to establish secondary production of polymer products from waste instead.

Bumper instead of a torch

"The petrochemical industry, like other manufacturing industries (extracting, processing), has always been subject to third-party subjective assessment of its impact on the environment and efforts to minimize it. The responsibility of companies is not only to act in accordance with environmental legislation, but also to take on additional obligations, adopt best practices, and become an example for others," Andrey Abramenko, head of the Circular Economy direction at Sibur, told Vedomosti&. "Sibur has made responsible consumption and production one of the main priorities for the development of the circular economy direction in the company. This approach is applied at all enterprises of the group."

"Sibur"

The largest Russian petrochemical company. The group's enterprises employ more than 26,000 people, and its products are exported to 80 countries. In 2018, Sibur's revenue was $9.1 billion, adjusted EBITDA was $3.3 billion.

Until recently, in the early 1990s, associated petroleum gas generated during oil production and refining was simply flared. Now it is a full-fledged raw material for the production of polymers. Sibur purchases it from oil producers as a raw material for the production of high-added-value products - plastics and rubbers. In its annual report for 2018, the company calls itself the largest processor of oil and gas waste in Russia. Last year, Sibur processed 22.3 billion cubic meters of associated petroleum gas, preventing the emission of more than 72 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere - this is comparable to the annual emissions of, for example, Greece (76.2 million tons in 2018).

Reuse

The company's environmental strategy involves the implementation of closed-loop economy principles. This concept implies the recycling and reuse of production and consumption waste, including plastic.

The company "Biaxplen", which is part of the " Sibur " group, produces polypropylene films for food and non-food packaging. It has established almost waste-free production: all polymer waste is returned to the production cycle and added to the primary raw materials when releasing a new product. The company sends metallized film waste to producers of regranulate, which is then used to produce various plastic products, such as polymer seats for stadiums.

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RusVinyl (a joint venture between Sibur and Solvay) produces polyvinyl chloride (PVC; used to make pipes, window profiles, and even clothing). The main raw material for PVC is regular salt. After processing it, sludge remains - a mixture of sand with calcium and magnesium salts. Until now, this waste was sent to solid municipal waste landfills as an insulating material (i.e., they “covered” the landfill with it. - Vedomosti&). In 2018, RusVinyl began a project to process sludge into a material that can be used as a component of wall stone, ceramic bricks, and dry building mixtures.

In support of "Ecology"

At the Eastern Economic Forum in September this year, Sibur, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Russian Ecological Operator agreed to cooperate in the sphere of environmental development in Russia. The goal is to create a system for collecting, sorting and recycling municipal waste in Russia and to support the national project "Ecology" (its volume is 4 trillion rubles - "Vedomosti&"). Under this agreement, the Bashkir AO Polief, which is part of Sibur, will begin implementing an investment project for processing flakes - a semi-finished product from the recycling of plastic bottles - into granules for the production of new bottles.

The Sibur PolyLab research center created by Sibur in Skolkovo is already implementing similar technologies. Its employees are developing waste-free industrial processes and researching the possibility of producing high-quality plastics from household waste.

Sibur spends annually on environmental protection and the implementation of environmental technologies. From 2010 to 2018, Sibur spent 18.5 billion rubles on these purposes (for comparison: the federal budget of Russia spends up to 100 billion rubles on these purposes in recent years). In 2018, the company's expenses on the implementation of targeted environmental programs amounted to about 1.2 billion rubles.

At the same time, the group is reducing its own waste through greater process efficiency and high-quality disposal. In 2018, Sibur sent one third, or 18,800 tons, of the 64,000 tons of waste for recycling. For comparison: in 2014, the group's enterprises produced 74,000 tons of waste and only 6,400 tons (less than 10%) were recycled.

According to the UN precepts

Along with global warming, pollution of the land and ocean with plastic waste is one of the most important problems on the UN’s modern environmental agenda.

In September 2019, Sibur joined the UN Global Compact, the largest international UN initiative for business in the field of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. All member organizations of the compact undertake obligations to respect human rights and promote more equitable, environmentally friendly, inclusive development of business, regions of presence and society.

In addition, since 2018, the company has been a member of the Plastics Europe association, which unites more than 100 plastic manufacturers, accounting for 90% of polymer production in Europe. Sibur supported the association's environmental initiative Operation Clean Sweep, which seeks to prevent polymer particles from entering the environment during their production and logistics.

“The company implemented the association’s recommendations at enterprises in Tver, Perm and Tobolsk and, as a result, was able to prevent 186 tons of polymer particles from entering the environment in 2018 alone,” Abramenko told Vedomosti&. “Most of them (86%) were returned to the production cycle, the rest were disposed of in accordance with the association’s requirements.”

The board of directors of Sibur decided to implement the methods tested at three plants at all of the company’s enterprises within the next two years.

Collect separately

Solving environmental problems must begin with developing environmental awareness and responsible consumption – forming the habit of handling plastic waste, Karisalov said at the SPIEF.

The first step to effective recycling of plastic waste is waste sorting. Russians do not yet consider this necessary - 92% of the country's residents throw away all waste together, according to a study conducted by Romir in June 2019. Only 6% collect and hand over plastic separately, 2% each - glass and paper with cardboard, another 1% - metal.

To this end, the company, together with the VTB United League and the Ministry of Natural Resources, supported the "Basketbottle" project. Special containers - basketball hoops - were installed at the home arenas of Russian basketball clubs to collect plastic waste, primarily plastic bottles. "A plastic bottle is not garbage, and its place is not in a landfill, but in a special container for collecting plastic," the authors of the initiative explain on their website. During the first round of the playoffs alone, more than 3,000 plastic bottles were collected.

/ Instagram @basketbottle

"The problem of plastic islands in the oceans - is it the problem of those who produce bottles and drinks, or of those who throw these bottles into the ocean?" Karisalov said at the SPIEF. "I think the answer is obvious. Only a change in culture will help combat the problem."

Plastic in the second generation