Dow, Inc. announces that it is developing a new family of post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins to ultimately be offered throughout the globe. The recycled plastic resins are designed to harness the resources of used flexible and rigid plastic packaging to create new packaging materials while keeping waste out of the environment. The offering underscores Dow’s comprehensive strategy to develop a circular economy for plastics by focusing on integrating recycled content into product offerings.
Dow’s new PCR resins, already offered in Asia and Europe, provide brands and consumers with performance comparable to packaging made with virgin resins while reducing carbon and energy footprints of by 20-30 percent depending on the offering and application. It will also giving a new end-of-life use to plastics that otherwise would have become waste.
When used in collation shrink film, intended for secondary packaging to hold bottles, cans and cartons, Dow’s new PCR resin will help ensure products are delivered safely while also reducing the amount of plastic waste ending up in our environment. It can also be used in rigid packaging to create bottles for the home care market.
“Dow’s new recycled plastic resin represents another advancement in our commitment to work with our customers to stop plastic waste from entering the environment and to drive circular economy solutions,” said Diego Donoso, president, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics. “Our actions to advance recycling technologies, help customers design products for recycling and support infrastructure and education projects are helping demonstrate that a circular world is possible.”
The new material directly supports Dow’s recently announced sustainability targets which include commitments to stop the waste by enabling one million tons of plastic to be collected, reused, or recycled through our direct actions and partnership by 2030 and to reduce its net annual carbon emissions by 5 million tons by 2030 on its path toward achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.
To help meet these goals, Dow is increasing recycling for plastics that have been considered too difficult to recycle. In collaboration with industry partners, recyclers and waste management companies Dow will increase the value of used plastics by developing higher-value recycled applications, invest in innovation, and find ways to incorporate more recycled content into new, highperformance materials.