A scale up of game-changing new advanced recycling solution for plastics being announced as partnership between Dow and Mura Technology

Today Dow a global leader in materials science, and Mura Technology, the global pioneer of an advanced plastic recycling solution, announced a partnership one of its kind to take care of the plastic waste in the environment.

The collaboration will support the rapid scaling of Mura’s new HydroPRS™ (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution) advanced recycling process aimed at preventing plastic and carbon from entering the natural environment while creating the feedstocks for a sustainable, circular plastics economy. 

The partnership combines Dow’s materials science capabilities, global scale, and financial resources with Mura’s leading technology, to produce the circular feedstocks which are then converted into the recycled plastics that consumers and global brands are increasingly seeking.

Mura’s proprietary solution, HydroPRS™, is a revolutionary advanced recycling process that uses supercritical steam to convert plastics back into the chemicals and oils from which they were made, for use in new, virgin-equivalent plastic products. HydroPRS™ can recycle all forms of plastic – including multi-layer, flexible plastics used in packaging, which are currently harder to recycle and often incinerated or sent to landfill.

Importantly, the plastics produced using these recycled products are expected to be suitable for use in food-contact packaging, unlike most conventional recycling processes. With Mura’s process, there is no anticipated limit to the number of times the same material can be recycled – meaning it has the potential to significantly reduce plastics being used once and make the raw ingredients for a circular plastics economy. In addition, advanced recycling processes are expected to save approximately 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of plastic recycled, compared to incineration of unrecycled plastics.

Dow will play an important role as a global manufacturer of plastic, proving that Mura’s solution can meet both the sustainability and performance needs of the industry and that the products made via HydroPRS™ can be employed at scale to make new plastics. The world’s first plant using HydroPRS™ is in development in Teesside, UK, with the first 20,000 tonnes per year line expected to be operational in 2022. Once all four lines are complete, Mura will be able to recycle up to 80,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, providing Dow with materials produced by the process. Dow will use these materials to develop new, virgin-grade plastic for applications such as food packaging and other packaging products to be re-circulated into global supply chains, creating a true circular plastics economy.

Salient Features of this partnership thus are: 

• Technology can recycle all forms of plastic – including multi-layer, flexible plastics often used in food packaging.
• Dow to play a pivotal role in Mura’s global rollout of 1MM metric tonnes of recycling capacity by 2025.
• Dow to receive a supply of recycled feedstocks made from plastics waste from Mura’s first-of-its-kind plant in Teesside, UK, supplying major brands across the globe with sustainable plastic products.
• Future Mura sites are planned in the US, Germany, and Asia as Mura’s global rollout accelerates.