Dow and Plastogaz Announce Strategic Investment to Convert Plastic Waste to Feedstock

Dow, the world's leading materials science company, and Plastogaz, a technology start-up and owner of advanced recycling technology, have announced a strategic investment that will help convert plastic waste to feedstock and provide another carbon-efficient option for keeping plastic waste out of landfills and the environment. Dow's continued drive to safeguard the environment and shut the loop on plastic waste has reached another milestone with this cooperation.

Plastogaz's innovative catalytic hydrocracking technology solution is different from other advanced recycling technologies in that it is more efficient and uses less energy. Before the plastic waste is transformed into high-quality hydrocarbons, sufficient to generate virgin-like plastics, advanced recycling necessitates a series of highly regulated stages, and this technique promises to streamline the process from waste to circular feedstock and finally circular polymers.

In the end, the goal is to enhance the carbon yields of advanced recycling (efficiency) while reducing the energy requirements for advanced recycling, resulting in a more circular economy with a smaller CO2 footprint. The goal of this collaboration is to speed up the commercialization of this method.

Dow will use its worldwide reach and materials science knowledge to help smaller creative startups like Plastogaz build circular feedstock for plastics, which is needed by big brands to remove plastic waste from their value chains and address the plastic waste challenge.

Advanced recycling is a procedure that works in conjunction with traditional mechanical recycling (the method currently most used to recycle plastics). However, advanced recycling has the advantage of being able to recycle previously difficult-to-recycle polymers such as multi-layer, flexible plastics used in packaging, which are often classified as "unrecyclable" and are generally burnt or disposed of in landfills.

Unlike traditional recycling methods, the recovered items will be appropriate for use in food-contact packaging. Advanced recycling offers the ability to reduce waste from single-use plastic by providing value rather than waste because there is no limit to how many times the same material may be recycled. Furthermore, as compared to incineration, modern recycling technologies are predicted to save around 1.5 tonnes of CO2 each tonne of plastic recovered.

Keith Cleason, Business Vice President of Olefins, Aromatics and Alternatives, said, “This is an important strategic step for Dow and advances our commitment to creating circular plastics with the lowest possible CO2 footprint. We are excited to continue to collaborate with innovative start-ups like Plastogaz, who share our ambition to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and plastic waste, in line with our global sustainability goals.”

Felix Bobbink, Founder of Plastogaz, said: “Plastic pollution is a global crisis, and our main goal is to eliminate millions of tons of plastic waste every year and return it into the valuable resource that it is, so it can go on to be used again more circularly and sustainably. We want to change the way the world thinks about plastics – not as something to throw away, but as a product that can be used over and over again, sustainably and without damaging our natural environment. If we want to make long-lasting change, we need to work with like-minded and ambitious partners like Dow who have the potential to scale our technology.”

According to the World Economic Forum, the 'lost resource' of plastic garbage represents a major economic potential worth up to $120 billion each year. This alliance has the potential to drastically reduce global plastic waste and emissions by deploying technologies capable of recycling more plastics and developing the ingredients for a circular plastics economy.

Dow Venture Capital, which is focused on pursuing strategic investments in creative start-up firms that allow and accelerate Dow's business development and value, arranged and led the investment.