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Advancing a circular economy

Corporate Home Science and Sustainability Sustainability Targets Circular Economy
Transitioning to a circular economy is not only vital to the preservation and protection of our planet’s natural resources, but also to the success of businesses at Dow. As we transform to a circular economy, we are taking into account a product’s lifecycle – from creation to use to disposal – in everything we do and create.

Our approach

We view waste as a resource. We are investing in new product technology, value chain partnerships, business models and waste management infrastructure to discover and scale sustainable solutions that extend the useful life of materials and the resources that go into making them.

What is a circular economy?

Imagine if products were designed, created and manufactured in a way that maximized their value across their life cycle. At Dow, we’re rethinking the traditional, linear “take-make-dispose” way of doing business to adopt new ways of working that maximize the value and use of our resources. Learn more.

Using fewer resources to manufacture our products

We are seeking to optimize the efficiency of our operations to conserve resources, repurpose byproducts from our manufacturing, and reduce material and energy waste.

Our actions

Piloting renewable feedstocks
Closing the loop on plastic production
Recycling wastewater
A small Dutch community with a Dow facility in the background

Partnering to reduce waste by rethinking business models and improving waste management

We are working with our value chains to explore regenerative business models and advance recycling technologies and infrastructure.

Our actions

Giving old mattresses a new life
Addressing the plastic waste challenge
Paving the way to a more sustainable future
Supporting waste warriors
A woman collects plastic material in large bags while surrounded by full bags

Working with customers to design products to extend their life cycle and to recover and retain their material value

We are collaborating with our customers, brand owners and the value chain to design materials that enable end products to be reusable or recyclable and extend their life cycle.

Our actions

Innovating post-consumer recycled products
Enabling easier disassembly of smartphones
Designing for durability
Enabling plastic packaging to be 100% recyclable
A hand drops empty snack bags into a recycling deposit box

Our commitments

Because of our leadership position in manufacturing and materials technology and as a producer of plastic, we have the opportunity to take a leading role in supporting the development of the circular economy. Find out how we’re working to accelerate a world without waste.

2025 Sustainability Goals
Sustainability Targets

Closing the loop and stopping plastic waste

Despite plastic’s value to society, only 10% of manufactured plastic is recycled annually, and 8 million tons end up in the ocean. This is unacceptable. Learn how we’re collaborating to keep plastic waste out of the environment and protect the natural resources and ecosystems that communities everywhere depend on.

Ending plastic waste
2025 Sustainability Goals
2025 Sustainability Goals
2025 Sustainability Goals