Project Stop hit major milestones in 2023. Since its start in 2017, co-founded by Borealis and Systemiq, the waste management programme has collected 8,755 tonnes of plastic, stopped 7,311 tonnes of plastic from leaking into the environment, created 290 full-time jobs, and served 393,280 people with waste collection services.
The project has impacted three locations in Indonesia so far. The first city partnership was established in 2017 in the municipality of Muncar, East Java, followed by others in Pasuruan, East Java, and Jembrana, Bali. Between February 2022 and June 2023, all three Project STOP city partnerships were fully handed over to the local regency governments.
Last September, the programme expanded into Banyuwangi, East Java, with the opening of a new material recovery facility.
Now, Borealis announced it will fully fund a further expansion of the Banyuwangi Hijau project.
“We are very proud to further extend our commitment to Project Stop, striving to provide Indonesia’s first Regency-wide waste management system, enabling access to sustainable waste collection to all residents in Banyuwangi—fully true to our purpose of reinventing essentials for sustainable living,” says Thomas Gangl, Borealis CEO. “Borealis will fully finance the construction of a second material recovery facility under the Project STOP Banyuwangi Hijau expansion and the roll-out of waste services to an additional 250,000 people in the region,” he added.
In a 2020 report, the United Nations estimated that Indonesia produces 3.2 million tonnes of unmanaged plastic waste a year, of which about 1.29 million tonnes end up in the sea. While its plastic recycling rate stands at only 7%, the country has recently introduced five key strategies to reduce ocean plastic pollution by 70% in 2025. These focus on reducing plastics production and use, diminishing land- and sea- leakage, improving behavioural change, and stepping up funding mechanisms, where support from international organisations are expected to play an important role.