Mar 05, 2025 | Haley Lowry | 7 minute read
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Innovating the future of plastic recycling and sustainability
Join me as I explore the innovative solutions and groundbreaking initiatives that are shaping the future of plastic recycling.
Plastic is an essential material. From the packaging that keeps our food fresh to technology that makes modern cars lighter to components that help make solar panels a more effective source of renewable energy, plastics are integral to realizing a sustainable future. They make consumer goods affordable, convenient, efficient, and even safer.
Considering all the benefits of this material, there's also a challenge to address—plastic waste. The environmental impact of improperly discarded plastic is serious, and the world demands solutions. The United Nations and member countries are working on a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution, with negotiations set to continue through 2025. This collaborative effort shows just how critical the issue is and how we can’t miss this opportunity to address it.
Solving the challenge isn't simple. Plastic recycling rates today need to significantly increase, and there is no one solution or technology or organization that can tackle that alone. This is a powerful reminder of both the hurdles and opportunities ahead. This is the work I am involved with every day at Dow.
From our advanced R&D labs in Texas to cutting-edge AI-guided technologies, I’ve connected with some of the brightest minds dedicated to changing the future of plastics.
How do you recycle plastics?
At a global level, 9% of plastic is currently being recycled. To increase that amount, recovery technologies are helping to realize more value from discarded plastic. The most commonly used recycling method is called mechanical recycling. It is a process that turns plastic waste into new products without significantly altering the original molecular structure. This material can then be used in applications like trash bags, containers, and building materials.
Watch this film or read along to join me as I explore the innovative solutions and groundbreaking initiatives that are shaping the future of plastic recycling.
Innovative recycling technologies and policy power the circular economy
As we work toward a circular economy, where materials like used plastics are continuously reused and repurposed, the integration of cutting-edge technology and supportive policy is essential. We want the recycling rate to increase. Consumers want that. Companies want that. It’s going to take infrastructure—it’s going to take policy—and it’s going to take some innovation.
Technological innovations driving circularity
A circular economy for plastics is being redefined by groundbreaking technologies. At our Pack Studios around the world, Dow experts are pioneering methods to incorporate recycled car parts, like bumpers, by developing innovative recycling solutions for the challenges posed by the many types of polymers used in vehicle manufacturing. This effort is crucial because our customers and the automotive sector are calling for increased post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials in vehicles, pushing us to innovate continuously.
Consumer trends and global policy are driving this move toward improving the recyclability of complex products (like cars) and the increasing expectation for more PCR materials used in those products. Automotive brands and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are paying attention and responding to evolving regulatory policies around the world that would require them to include higher percentages of recycled materials in vehicles. Other consumer brands are moving to incorporate more recycled materials into product packaging. In all sectors, this effort requires innovation.
An exciting development at Dow is our joint development agreement with P&G, focusing on dissolution technology. This recycling method uses solvents to break down complex waste, transforming it into high-quality, food-grade applications. This technology is expected to increase the recyclability of traditionally hard-to-recycle plastic packaging and offer a PCR polymer with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint compared to virgin, fossil-based material. P&G aims to use this innovative, recycled plastic in their own packaging, continuing the circular life of this material.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the playbook for how waste is cleaned and sorted. It’s exciting to see that technology begin to be applied to AI-guided recycling analyzers, and it reinforces the point that every new breakthrough, including those yet to come, matter in this work.
What is advanced recycling?
Advanced recycling, sometimes referred to as chemical or feedstock recycling, is a process that breaks down waste to the molecular level so it can be converted to new raw materials. This approach to recycling plastics breaks those materials down into polymers, the molecular building blocks for plastics.
The critical role of policy in waste infrastructure
Policy is a key enabler in unlocking the value of waste and creating robust recycling infrastructure. Policy for improved infrastructure helps pull waste out of the environment and landfills and keep it out. In turn, technology like the examples I’ve mentioned helps more of that waste to be used in PCR material.
One of the biggest challenges is not the availability of waste, but its usability.
To address these gaps, we need better infrastructure that can keep valuable material out of the environment and landfills while enhancing its quality for recycling. Partnerships and collaborations across the value chain and public and private sectors are essential to scale these efforts and bring about meaningful change.
Legislative actions, like the European Union's proposed measures for end of life of vehicles, are pivotal in promoting the recycling of automotive components and plastics overall. This proposal in particular aims to increase the use of recycled plastics in cars and grow recycling rates, reflecting a significant shift towards a circular economy.
Collaborating to drive the future of plastics recycling and circularity
There’s a lot more that we all can do to help scale the system and to increase recycling rates. We need to work together across the entire materials ecosystem. Many sectors, including electric vehicles (EVs), medical devices, consumer electronics, and packaging, are demanding materials that are designed for circularity and offer low-GHG-emissions to help meet their sustainability goals.
To deliver the solutions our customers are seeking, Dow has established partnerships around the world that are driving business growth through circularity.
An example of this is Dow’s partnership with Mura Technology to build multiple world-scale advanced recycling facilities in the United States and Europe, including in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Dow's recent acquisition of Circulus, a leading mechanical recycler of plastic waste into PCR material, marks a significant step in evolving our business model. That means a plastics manufacturer is now a recycler. That’s a big deal.
By combining Dow’s materials-science expertise with Circulus' film recycling technology, we aim to improve capacity for waste to be transformed into useful materials that are ready for a second life. This work underscores our commitment to supporting the reliable supply and quality of circular waste streams, which helps big brands around the world achieve their sustainability goals.
A plastics manufacturer is now a recycler. That’s a big deal.
Paving the way for sustainable plastics and recycling innovation
We have to be willing to take risks, think BIG and invest in new ideas for plastics circularity.
Curious minds are at work around the world to solve some of the tough challenges related to plastic waste management. They are testing, learning, and developing to advance new solutions for more sustainable plastics, better recycling rates, and less dependence on fossil fuel.
It’s inspiring how our industry is supporting these experts in their exploration of bold ideas. At Dow, our R&D pipeline supports sustainability outcomes such as climate protection, the circular economy, and safer materials. These initiatives are not just about recycling more; they are about reimagining the very foundation of how we produce, use, and repurpose plastics—paving the way for a sustainable future.
A materials ecosystem is developing around plastic and renewable waste to deliver its total value. By repeatedly transforming plastic waste into new products, less waste ends up in landfills, incinerators or in the environment.
Connections around the world, through the materials ecosystem, are helping to address challenges like consumers’ evolving concern for their environmental footprint and the subsequent surge in demand for products and packaging with key sustainability benefits.
Wherever you may be within the value chain, I hope you will join us in the journey to harness the power of technology and policy to create a circular economy for plastics.
It’s about ensuring a cleaner, and more sustainable world for generations to come.
About the author
Haley Lowry is a global sustainability director at Dow with 19 years of experience creating new, circular business models and products that integrate social, environmental, and commercial goals across CPG, retail, and plastics.
Haley frequently discusses plastic, waste issues and plastic pollution solutions at Green Biz, USAID, SXSW, and Our Ocean. She has been recognized as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Top Women Breaking the Mold, and is a board member of several organizations, including the Recycling Partnership. She has been published in Sustainable Brands, WEF, and The Guardian.
As a passionate professional driving transformation and system change, Haley volunteers as a mentor and a consultant for social impact initiatives and enjoys being outdoors at every opportunity.
About the article
The film, Plastic 2.0: The coolest ideas disrupting the future of waste, was produced in partnership with the Economist Impact. It explores the value of diverse approaches and collaborative efforts to developing plastic pollution solutions and what is needed to unlock a circular economy for plastics.