Siegwerk joins Project Stop to combat plastic pollution

Siegwerk has become a strategic partner of Project Stop, an initiative, co-founded by Borealis and Systemiq, that designs, implements and scales circular economy technologies to minimize the marine plastic pollution in Indonesia.

Collection of waste and hand sorting is part os Project Stop initiatives in Indonesia

Since its launch in 2017, Project Stop has welcomed various industrial and governmental partners designing, implementing, and scaling circular economy technologies to prevent plastic waste pollution.

The initiative works hand in hand with local municipalities and environmental agencies to contribute to developing a low cost and circular waste management infrastructure through city partnership projects across Indonesia.

‘We strongly believe that creating a circular economy is the solution to today’s global waste problem and we see it as our responsibility as a global player to actively support its realization,’ commented Alina Marm, head of circular economy hub at Siegwerk. ‘As a strategic partner of Project Stop, we are now able to deliver on our commitment in a way that empowers local communities by building a circular system to successfully tackle the very real and immediate problems of plastic waste pollution.’

The initiative’s overall goal is to increase recycling rates, achieve zero ocean leakage and create social benefits for local communities. It combines a rapid acceleration of waste management systems at city level with system level policy, investment, behavior change and innovation in material design approaches.

‘By joining Project Stop we have the exciting opportunity to be an active part of a system-changing “impact” initiative concretely supporting areas with minimal to no waste management services and high plastic leakage rates by building infrastructures, empowering circular processes and encouraging behavior change,’ added Ralf Hildenbrand, president Americas at Siegwerk.

Indonesia plays an important role for Siegwerk as the country is home of numerous employees and customers. The company operates one site in Tangerang and one blending center in Surabaya.

Project Stop supports three cities in Indonesia with extremely high ocean plastic leakage levels: Muncar, a coastal fishing community in Banyuwangi, Pasuruan, a coastal city located in Java, Indonesia’s fourth largest island (and only 70 km from Siegwerk’s blending center in Surabaya), and Jembrana, located on the northwest coast of Bali.

‘We firmly believe that a complex issue like ocean pollution can only be tackled through partnerships along the value chain,’ said Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis. ‘Having Siegwerk as a strategic partner of Project Stop will help accelerate the successful delivery and expansion of our city-partnerships in Indonesia and provide a foundation for further actions in the region.’