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Launch of a manufacturing line to produce landscaping design features from recycled plastic

24 may 2022

As part of the RE-FORMA environmental project, Amur Oblast saw a launch of a production line that will be used to manufacture various urban landscaping design features from recycled plastics. The opening ceremony was attended by Pavel Puzanov, Deputy Head of the Oblast’s Government, Vitaly Bass, head of REFORMA LLC, a specialized operator company that is housing the production line, representatives of SIBUR, the project’s partner, and other guests of honor.

The new facility comes complete with a range of specialized equipment for manufacturing recycled products including a crusher for shredding plastics, a mixer for mixing the resulting polymer chips with sand, a melting and heating unit for prepping the polymer-sand mixture, and a molding machine for making the finished products by applying the pressure of 160 tons. The primary feedstock material for this line is recycled plastic of Types 2 and 4. In layman’s terms, these are mostly plastic shopping bags including thin packing bags, T-shirt bags, as well as film for greenhouses, stretch and bubble-wrap film.

Thanks to the RE-FORMA project, more than 500 vandal-proof benches and trash cans made out of recycled plastic are expected to be produced for landscaping of Blagoveshchensk and Svobodny. To produce one bench, it would take anywhere from 4 to 5 thousand plastic bags that will be put to good use instead of ending up in a landfill. The residents of the two cities can become co-authors of the newly built eco-friendly landscaping features. To do this, all one would have to do is go to one of the collection sites and turn in their second-hand bags. A map with the addresses of collection sites and recommendations on separate waste collection have been published on the project’s pages on
VKontakte and on Telegram.

The RE-FORMA project is being implemented with the support of Amur Oblast’s Government and GBU Ecology, a State Budgetary Institution. SIBUR, Russia's largest integrated oil and gas chemical company is also one of the project’s partners. SIBUR has been actively involved in implementing various environmental protection projects as part of its Formula for Good Deeds social investment program with a significant focus on initiatives seeking to nurture a culture of conscious waste management in society.

This innovative production facility will make it possible to address two seemingly very diverse challenges at once: reducing waste and creating landscaping design features for beautifying public urban spaces. Instead of heading to landfills, second-hand plastic products will be benefiting both city residents and the environment. The potential of Amur Oblast’s recycling sector is enormous, and we are ready to continue providing our full support to those willing to invest in such projects in dealing with any general issues and in fostering effective cooperation between all parties involved in this process, Pavel PUZANOV, Deputy Chairman of Amur Oblast’s Government, noted.

As we inaugurate our new state-of-the-art production facility, we are offering tangible proof that plastics are not waste but rather a raw material that has useful applications. It is just a matter of how it is handled. It’s one thing to throw it into a dumpster and quite another to collect it separately and re-use it as a feedstock material for manufacturing new products. Perhaps some people might still find this a bit unusual, complicated, and ineffective. However, thanks to the RE-FORMA project, everyone will be able to see for themselves that rational waste management and appropriate steps towards separate waste collection could indeed produce impressive results, Vitaly BASS, General Director of REFORMA LLC, noted.

In conducting its operations, SIBUR goes by its Sustainable Development Strategy that focuses, inter alia, on fostering the development of a circular economy, recycling and reusing polymer waste to help use available resources in a more sustainable manner and to reduce the impact on the environment. Plastics are a state-of-the-art, practical, accessible and recyclable material. The RE-FORMA project that is being implemented in Amur Oblast seeks to forge the culture of responsible waste management. It illustrates clearly that plastic waste can be turned into new useful things thanks to people participating in waste collection for recycling, Sergey PROTSENKO, Head of SIBUR's Department of Government Relations and Socio-Economic Development of Presence Regions, shared.