Chemicals and materials science giant Dow announced today a series of investments and partnerships aimed at accelerating the company’s circularity capabilities, and significantly scaling its plastic recycling capacity.

On the company’s Q2 2022 earnings conference call this morning, Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said that the new collaborations will allow the company to achieve two-thirds of its 2030 target to enable one million metric tons of plastic to be collected, re-used and recycled by 2030.

The company stated that the new initiatives will also make Dow the largest consumer of recycled-plastic-feedstock for polyethylene globally.

The new projects include investments in both advanced and mechanical recycling systems. The largest of the new initiatives is a plan with advanced recycling solutions provider Mura Technology to construct multiple large-scale recycling facilities in the US and Europe.

The Mura collaboration will add up to 600,000 tons of plastic recycling capacity by 2030, making it Dow’s largest advanced recycling commitment to date. Dow will utilize the recycled plastic feedstock from the facilities to produce virgin-grade plastics, which the company says are increasingly in demand from global brands.

Dow also announced an agreement with French plastics recycler Valoregen to build the largest hybrid recycling site in France, with Dow as the main recipient of the plant’s post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin, for use in Dow’s Revoloop PCR-based packaging products.

Additionally, Dow announced today an agreement with advanced recycling company Nexus Circular to secure the production output of a new recycling facility in Dallas, Texas. The facility will process over 26,000 tons of previously non-recycled plastic, converting it to raw materials for new plastics for food-contact, health, hygiene, and fitness applications.

On the call, Fitterling said that the new recycling investments are being made as major brands globally are increasing their demand for circular products and solutions.

Fitterling added:

“Circularity is a key enabler of our growth strategy, as brand owners and our customers increasingly demand circular solutions.”

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