- Dow and Mura Technology will increase advanced recycling capacity in the US and Europe by 600 kilotonnes by 2030.

- The expansion builds on Mura's first facility in Teesside, England, which will be fully operational in 2023.
- By combining advanced (chemical) recycling as a complementary technology to mechanical recycling, Dow is making significant progress towards its sustainability, climate and waste reduction goals.
- As the largest purchaser of Mura's circular raw materials, Dow will be able to supply sustainable products to major brand owners worldwide and reduce the amount of plastic waste.
- Dow is providing Mura Technology with significant financial resources to implement multi-year plastics recycling projects.

Dow (NYSE: DOW), a global leader in materials science, and Mura Technology, a global pioneer of a chemical plastics recycling solution, announce the next stage of their collaboration. Together, the companies will build several large-scale, state-of-the-art advanced recycling facilities in the US and Europe. With a capacity of 120 kilotonnes each, this will increase annual recycling capacity by a total of 600 kilotonnes.
Dow plays a crucial role as the largest customer for the circular raw materials produced by Mura. This circular feedstock, currently derived from landfilled or incinerated plastic waste, reduces the use of fossil feedstock in plastics production and enables Dow to produce a recycled feedstock for the development of high quality virgin plastics and to meet the demand of global brand companies. Working closely together, Dow and Mura will ensure the marketable return of plastics to global supply chains, which increases the value of plastic waste and promotes the circular economy for plastics.
Mura's planned capital investment and Dow's offtake agreements to federate and expand advanced recycling capabilities globally represent the largest partnership project between the two companies to date.
"Strengthening the partnership between Dow and Mura is an important milestone in Dow's drive to add momentum to the introduction of breakthrough chemical recycling technologies," said Marc van den Biggelaar, Advanced Recycling Director at Dow. "By investing in new applications, Dow is laying the foundation to meet its customers' increased demand for recycled materials and effectively impact supply chains to advance a functioning circular economy of plastics. As a long-term partner, we look forward to realising the potential of this process in plastics recycling and helping to solve the problem of plastic waste."
"This partnership gives Dow further momentum on the path to diversifying raw materials, which are essential to advancing a circular economy for plastics," added Diego Donoso, President of Packaging and Specialty Plastics at Dow. "A truly circular business model for plastics will also enable decarbonisation and help us move towards net zero."
The intensification of this collaboration will enable the rapid scaling of Mura's revolutionary HydroPRS™ (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution) recycling process, which can recycle all types of plastics, including flexible and multi-layer plastics previously considered "non-recyclable". Used on a large scale, this technology can prevent millions of tonnes of plastic and carbon dioxide from entering the environment each year, while providing raw materials for a sustainable circular economy. Dow is supporting this mission with its materials science expertise.
"The global plastics problem is one of our most pressing environmental issues to date - there is simply no time to lose," explains Dr Steve Mahon, CEO of Mura Technology. "The technology Mura has developed can advance the global plastics circular economy, and our partnership with Dow is a key enabler for the global deployment of HydroPRS™. This next step, along with the resources provided by Dow, will enable us to fund and dramatically increase recycling capacity and introduce circular plastics into global supply chains at scale."

The world's first plant to use Mura's HydroPRS™ process is located in Teesside, England, and is scheduled to come on stream in 2023. The production plant, with a capacity of 20 kilotonnes per year, will supply Dow with a 100 % recycled raw material. As such, the Teesside plant plays an important role in Dow and Mura's target chemical recycling capacity of 600 kilotonnes by 2030.
Dow's global presence will enable the upscaling of Mura's technology through several projects in the US and Europe. This includes plans for co-location opportunities that will provide significant integration benefits to Mura's plants.
Complementing this chemical recycling venture are other Dow projects in mechanical recycling and waste ecosystems announced today:
- An investment to build France's largest hybrid recycling plant, managed by Valoregen, will provide a source of recycled plastics (post consumer recyclates: PCR) for Dow.
- A Memorandum of Understanding with Nexus Circular to create a circular ecosystem in Dallas, Texas, for previously unrecycled plastics, building on the previous Hefty® EnergyBag® collaboration with Nexus and Reynolds Consumer Products.
Hydrothermal technology offers opportunity to solve plastics problem
Mura's proprietary HydroPRS™ solution is a hydrothermal recycling process that uses water in the form of supercritical steam. The steam here acts as a kind of molecular shear, breaking the bonds of longer-chain hydrocarbons into plastics to recover the valuable, original chemicals and oils used to make plastics - in just 25 minutes.

These oils, which are the same as the original fossil products, are then used to create new plastics that are every bit as good as materials made from non-recycled, original raw materials. In the process, the same material can be recycled multiple times, enabling a true circular economy for plastic waste. Unlike the conventional recycling process, the products are suitable for use in food packaging.
Mura's innovative process can recycle all types of plastics, including previously "non-recyclable" ones such as films, pots, tubs and trays, which currently can only be incinerated or sent to landfill. The process is designed to be complementary to conventional recycling and wider initiatives such as mechanical recycling, where plastic waste is shredded and transformed into various plastic products. Materials (mechanical) recycling remains an important part of Dow's recycling strategy.
The use of supercritical steam means that the technology is scalable. Unlike other processes where the waste is heated externally, the steam releases its energy internally, resulting in efficient conversion of the plastic waste. This process can be sustained regardless of size.
Together with other companies such as KBR Inc, a multinational engineering services company based in the US, Wood, a global consulting and engineering company, Dow is supporting Mura in establishing its technology worldwide. It is also being promoted by the environmental organisation Ocean Generation, which is committed to solving the problem of plastic waste
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