Plastic Waste Reduced By Half At ABB Factory In Porvoo, Finland

• Factory for electrical installation products recycles plastic from production side streams
• New technologies and related operational processes reduced plastic waste by 50 percent and improved recycling rate by almost 20 percent last year
• Staff training and partnership advance the site’s circularity approach

By adopting innovative processes for reusing waste products, ABB’s manufacturing site in Porvoo, Finland has reduced its mixed plastic waste by 50 percent and improved its recycling rate by almost 20 percent in 2023. An important step towards preserving the earth’s resources and supporting customers in meeting their sustainability commitments, the recycling efforts will save the equivalent average weight in polypropylene of 16 Alder trees in 2024.

ABB Electrification’s Smart Buildings factory that manufactures electrical installation products and accessories has found a way of reusing waste plastic produced by injection molding processes. By introducing new technologies and processes, the 6,600 square meter plant moves closer to a circular economy of raw materials.

The OECD's plastics report¹ states that just six percent of global annual plastic production uses recycled materials. The main raw material for plastic production is still naphtha, a byproduct of fossil fuel processing. With the commitment of employees and industry partners, side stream waste plastic at Porvoo now ends up in the form of an oil product for use by the broader plastics industry. This is executed by the site’s partner, WasteWise Group, that returns the oil product back to the industry for future use, via chemical recycling using the pyrolysis process. ABB also partners locally with waste management company Verdis, on the transportation, maintenance and reporting of the waste.

"As we transition away from fossil fuels, the plastics industry needs to make a significant green transition, which is only possible if the separate collection of plastic waste becomes more efficient and new technologies such as chemical recycling are added to the recycling of plastic waste alongside mechanical recycling," said Kaisa Suvilampi, CEO of WasteWise Group Oy.

"Our factory at Porvoo is investing in becoming a Net Zero factory, most notably with the use of geothermal and heat recovery solutions. We take a lifecycle approach to preserving resources, too - removing waste across our value chain. This includes design, sourcing, production, and use, culminating in responsible end-of-life services. We are aiming to cover at least 80 percent of ABB's products and systems with our Circularity Approach by 2030,” said Lucy Han, Executive Vice President, Building and Home Automation Solutions at ABB Electrification’s Smart Buildings.

¹ https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/global-plastics-outlook_de747aef-en