Dow is always looking for ways to keep plastic waste out of the environment. Or making sure there’s no waste at all. Innovative reuse concepts. Recycling options. Clean up programs. We are helping to make a difference around the world.
We will deliver circular economy solutions
Improving roads with recycled plastic
Paving a new way
Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America – these regions face different challenges. One thing they have in common? Infrastructure can be improved. That’s why Dow is working with partners around the world to make polymer-modified asphalt roads with recycled plastic.
Roads built from recycled plastic are often more resistant to corrosion and can reduce potholes and traffic jams. Additionally, tons of plastic is being diverted from landfills for the projects. And this is just the start; with our partners, we’re working toward safer, more sustainable roads.
Keeping hard-to-recycle plastic out of the environment
The Hefty® EnergyBag®
Dow initiated the “EnergyBag” pilot program in 2014. Today, in partnership with Reynolds Consumer Products, owners of the Hefty brand, the Hefty® EnergyBag® recovery program has successfully expanded.
This program collects hard-to-recycle plastics from consumers at their curbsides and converts them into valuable resources, including energy, fuels, and other feedstocks.
Leading by doing: cleaning up existing waste
#PullingOurWeight
Four pounds of waste per person. That’s the global average we produce every day. It’s the target weight we want to offset with our litter clean-up effort – #PullingOurWeight.
Working with the Ocean Conservancy and other local organizations, we’re asking employees, customers, and other partners around the world to engage in cleaning up the trash in their communities.
#PullingOurWeight helps remind everyone on the importance of keeping waste out of the environment. It also provides an opportunity to demonstrate proper plastic waste management and recycling best practices.
Enhancing waste management while helping create jobs
Project Butterfly
Introduced in 2017, Project Butterfly works with communities in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Algeria to tackle poor waste management through education, clean-up and innovation-focused initiatives. Along with nonprofits and local communities, the project aims to bridge the gap between recycling buy-back centers, sorting facilitators, collectors and recyclers.
The initiative is advancing a circular economy in Africa – one that redesigns, recycles, reuses and remanufactures to keep materials at their highest value for as long as possible. Just like a caterpillar that transforms into a butterfly, this project is reshaping and transforming mindsets, communities and plastic waste using circular economy principles.
Recycling for a Change
Recycling for a Change has created a training, professional development and strategic support model that is enabling waste picker cooperatives in Brazil to become more sustainable and profitable, while providing the highest quality materials to enhance the plastics recycling value chain.
Alongside partners Boomera and Avina, Recycling for a Change represents an opportunity to support local entrepreneurism and economically empower individuals, families and communities. By developing a role-model initiative that can be implemented with cooperatives, this project will generate sustainable income for hundreds of families across the waste management value chain in Brazil.