Sibur opens Polief plant to visitors to showcase solar/recycled plastic techs

Sibur, Russia’s largest producer of polymers and rubber, has opened its green enterprise, the Polief plant in the Bashkiriya region, for industrial tourism. Tourists visit Polief to learn about the solar power plant and the technology used to produce plastics from recycled materials.

In 2022, Polief began operating a solar power plant consisting of more than 10,000 photovoltaic cells and covering an area equivalent to 10 football fields. The 4.9 MW of solar power generated helps the plant reduce its CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions by 3,000 tonnes/year.

The launch of a solar generation plant at Polief is one of the flagship climate projects within Sibur’s sustainable development strategy. The company has registered the plant in the Qatar-backed Global Carbon Council programme and is preparing to receive internationally recognised carbon credits.

Polief uses solar energy to produce eco-friendly products – polymers containing recycled plastic. Sibur, with the help of partners, has created a network of plastic waste collection points and reverse vending machines for accepting used plastic bottles (PET bottles) across Russia. The firm’s partners shred these bottles into small pieces (flakes), which are then sent to Polief for further processing.

Polief produces PET granules containing up to 30% recycled plastic (rPET) under the Vivilen brand, which are then used to make plastic bottles.

Visitors touring the plant can see the production workshop as well as the warehouse with big bags of PET flakes, which are mixed with virgin polymer raw materials during production.

Over the past year, Polief has welcomed more than 1,000 tourists, including local residents, young people, and industry professionals interested in eco-friendly production technologies.

Polief’s capacities make it possible to incorporate up to 34,000 tonnes/year of recycled plastic waste into new products. This prevents up to 1.7 billion used plastic bottles from ending up in landfills. Vivilen rPET is popular with environmentally responsible producers who use plastic bottles made from rPET for bottling water and beverages.

Sibur emphasises that tours at Polief help Russians understand the importance of sorting and recycling waste and incorporating it into the production of new products.