Dow Introduces Its First Recycled Plastic Resin for Shrink Film Applications in North America

Published: October 28, 2020

Dow introduced its first post-consumer recycled (PCR)-rich resin for collation shrink film in North America, enabling companies to incorporate more post-consumer materials while maintaining the application performance.

The recycled plastic resin, which is designed specifically for retail and logistic shrink film applications, expands Dow’s circular technology portfolio to help more customers and brands achieve their sustainability goals by offering the ability to create shrink film with up to 40 percent PCR content.

“We developed our PCR-rich resin to meet market demand for companies seeking to use more recycled plastics in their products, and we collaborated across the value chain to bring it to life,” said Victor Zapata, recycling commercial director, Dow, North America and Latin America. “This gives our customers one more tool to explore sustainable packaging alternatives, especially within Dow’s Pack Studios collaboration centers.”

The recycled material in Dow’s XUS60030.01 Experimental Low Density Polyethylene Resin reportedly includes 70 percent certified film-based PCR. By using a high percentage of recycled plastics, this innovation can also help companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and energy footprints.

Other key advantages of the PCR-rich resin include:

• Final package performance comparable to that of packages made with 100 percent virgin resins;
• Sourced with recycled material that includes a high level of certified PCR;
• Maintains recyclability as an all-PE film;
• Flexibility to customize PCR content for shrink applications;
• Reduced carbon footprint of shrink applications;
• Reliable with adequate supply to meet market demand; and
• A homogeneous and consistent solution for incorporating PCR-based film.

In January, Dow announced a partnership with Avangard Innovative to supply PCR film pellets to Dow. Since securing this reliable, quality supply of PCR, Dow has been evaluating new linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) products using PCR.

For more information, visit https://www.dow.com/en-us.