The Abu Dhabi based Borouge and the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, MOCCAE, sealed an MOU today to enhance plastics innovation and increase their efforts to protect the UAE climate and environment.
In the presence of Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, as well as Abdulaziz Alhajri, Chairman of Borouge and Director of ADNOC’s Downstream Directorate, and Thomas Boesen, Borealis Vice President Middle East, the MOU was signed by Saif Mohamed AlShara, MOCCAE’s Assistant Under-Secretary for the Sustainable Communities Sector, and Ahmed Omar Abdulla, CEO of Abu Dhabi Polymers Company, Borouge.
Commenting on the signing, Dr. Thani Al-Zeyoudi said, "While plastic is an essential component in many modern industries in the world and has proven economic value in securing our livelihoods, we now realise the need to strike a balance between its economic value and protecting the environment against its adverse effects by opting for greener choices when consuming plastics in a smart way and disposing of it properly."
"MOCCAE is interested in cooperating with Borouge, where together we can contribute significantly to the protection of climate, environment and natural resources by benefiting from Borouge’s outstanding innovative capabilities in providing creative plastics solutions, in addition to jointly enhancing social and environmental awareness and promoting sustainable behaviours in tackling plastics waste challenges more responsibly", he added.
"We, as a leading petrochemical solutions provider, are glad to establish and strengthen our strategic partnership with the Ministry to join forces towards contributing to achieving the expectations and objectives of the UAE’s Vision 2021," said Ahmed Omar Abdulla. "By doing so, we help to achieve sustainable developments, protection of our environment and natural resources and enhancement of plastic waste prevention as well as waste management practices."
These efforts will support the implementation of the UAE sustainable waste prevention and management practices to provide an overall national framework based on global benchmarks. Both, Borouge and the Ministry have also agreed to promote the active development of plastics circular economy initiatives due to its economic and environmental benefits by increasing the recycling and enhancing the reusability of recycled plastics waste, to extend the lifespan of plastics.
The Borouge Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi plays a crucial role in addressing these waste problems due to its ability in providing the industry with out-of-the-box ideas, driven by innovation.