Chemical giant Dow (Midland, Michigan, USA; www.dow.com) and consumer goods group Procter & Gamble (P&G, Cincinnati, Ohio; https://us.pg.com) recently announced a joint development agreement to create a new recycling technology that would convert hard-to-recycle plastic packaging into recycled polyethylene with near-virgin quality and a low GHG-emission footprint.

To create the new technology, the companies said they would combine their patented technologies and know-how in the dissolution process. The development programme is to focus on using dissolution technology to recycle a broad range of plastic materials with a focus on PE and targeting post-household plastics waste, particularly rigid, flexible, and multi-layer packaging.

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The technology aims to deliver high quality post-consumer recycled (PCR) polymer, which P&G plans to use in its packaging. The partnership begins immediately and is expected to run until commercialisation, according to the joint statement.

In addition to the patented technologies, the companies said that both bring decades of expertise in materials science, manufacturing capabilities, and large-scale supply chain management. These areas of expertise will be important in the development of this new recycling technology, which can be deployed at commercial manufacturing scale.