Dow and UPM join forces to produce plastics made with renewable feedstock

Dow in partnership with UPM Biofuels, a producer of advanced biofuels, has announced the commercialisation of a plastics offering for the packaging industry made from a bio-based renewable feedstock. 

Dow is integrating wood-based UPM BioVerno renewable naphtha, a key raw material used to develop plastics, into its slate of raw materials, creating an alternative source for plastics production.

The company will use this feedstock to produce bio-based polyethylene (PE) at its production facility in The Netherlands, for use in packaging applications such as food packaging to reduce food waste.

Following a successful year-long trial program, Dow is now planning to scale production and address the increasing global demand for renewable plastics.

This process also reduces CO2 emissions, especially by carbon sequestration, compared to standard fossil derived PE resins.

The entire supply chain is International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) certified, based on mass balance approach, meaning all steps meet traceability criteria and reduce negative environmental impacts.

This agreement with UPM is the latest example of Dow’s strategy to enable a shift to a circular economy for plastics by focusing on resource efficiency and integrating recycled content and renewable feedstocks into its production processes.

Dow also recently partnered with the Fuenix Ecogy Group, based in Weert, The Netherlands, for the supply of pyrolysis oil feedstock, which is made from recycled plastic waste.

“The partnership between UPM and Dow illustrates our ambition to ensure the products we sell support the shift from a traditional linear economy towards a circular economy,” said Carsten Larsen, Dow’s recycling commercial director for Europe.

“At the end of their useful life, products and materials are recovered as efficiently as possible so they can be used again. We are focusing on the sustainability properties of every polymer we bring to market by working with partners like UPM to source alternative feedstocks to minimize the amount of fossil resources required for production.”

Dow is showcasing the “tall oil” project with UPM at K 2019, the world’s largest plastics and rubber trade fair from 16-23 October in Dusseldorf, Germany.