Dow Plastic Sustainability,2020

Today, too much plastic is lost to waste and is entering our natural environment—ending up in landfills, our waterways and oceans. It’s unacceptable.

Progress will require unprecedented collaboration between business, government, academia and civil society. We at Dow are committed to doing our part.

#PullingOurWeight is central to our efforts

and—thanks to you, Team Dow—is now the

largest participation of Dow volunteers for a

single cause in company history. In the previous

few years, tens of thousands of employees,

families, friends and customers have worked

together to remove more than 50,000 pounds of

plastic waste from local communities.

Our collective endeavor is more than corporate volunteerism. It spreads awareness about the threat of

plastic pollution and Dow’s commitment to making a difference in the communities where we live, work

and play. It’s a call to action, spurring individuals and organizations to take a stand.

However, #PullingOurWeight is just one part of Dow’s sustainability story. Across Dow, we are working

hard every day to advance a circular economy for plastic—innovating, connecting and collaborating to

accelerate progress on more efficient and more renewable plastics solutions.

In this document you’ll find information about Dow’s plastic sustainability efforts. We hope this will serve as a useful resource to you to learn more about Dow’s role in ending plastic waste.

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Dow Plastic Sustainability, 2020

Why do we care about plastic waste?

• Plastic waste—and particularly ocean

plastic—is one of the most important

sustainability issues of our time.

• The use of plastics has grown

extensively in the last 70 years, but waste

management infrastructure has not kept

up, particularly in developing countries.

• Now, an estimated 8 million tons of

plastic enters our oceans each year.

• Most of this is the result of either

insufficient waste management

infrastructure or poor waste management

practices on land, which allow waste to

wash into rivers and eventually into the

ocean.

• It’s critical that everyone—consumers,

communities, businesses, government,

think tanks—is involved in the solution.

• Dow has been working for years to

create the highest performance materials

possible to reduce the amount of plastic

required to create products, while

preserving the benefits people rely on.

• We recognize that we have a role to play

in capturing and reusing plastic.

• That’s why, alongside our partners and

you—Team Dow—we’re exploring ways

to advance, scale and grow recycling

infrastructure, especially in the most

vulnerable parts of the world.

• Additionally, we’re working to make

recycling easier, make products more

easily recyclable, and innovate new

applications for waste plastics, such as

construction materials and roads.

• Our goal is to accelerate progress toward

a circular world for plastics, where the

value of plastic is retained from design to

disposal, while the burdens placed on the

environment are eliminated.

Important Background

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• On many occasions, replacing plasticwould do more harm than good tothe environment.

• With plastics, you can use far lessmaterial to do the same job asalternatives. For example, it wouldrequire 1.5 times more aluminum, 4times more steel, and 20 times moreglass than plastic to carry the samebeverage volume.

• According to recent research (Trucoststudy, 2016), the environmental cost ofusing plastics in consumer goods andpackaging is nearly four times less thanit would be if plastics were replaced withalternative materials.

• For example, in the United States,replacing plastic packaging with othermaterials would increase:

– Packaging generation by 55 million

tons annually

– Energy use by 82%

– Carbon emissions by 130%

Why do we still use plastics?

Why can’t we just switch materials?

• Simply put, plastics remain essential to

our daily lives.

• They are stronger, lighter and more

practical than many other materials,

and their use gives consumers and

businesses access to safe and affordable

products around the world.

• It’s important that society can continue

to reap these benefits.

• However, we must ensure that plastics

are only used when they offer the most

sustainable performance (environment,

social, economic) among material

alternatives.

Dow Plastic Sustainability, 2020

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We understand that to continue enjoying the many benefits of plastic, we must do our best to

prevent plastic waste from ending up in the environment.

A ban on a specific product, whatever it is made of, will not solve the problem. What’s more, the

responsibility is not on consumers in developing countries where there is no waste management

infrastructure, nor is it acceptable to move waste to countries where the appropriate waste

infrastructure does not exist.

That’s why we continue to seek innovative solutions with our customers and partners,

reimagining our products to improve sustainability, efficiency and recyclability. And, together

with other industry leaders and you, we must work to educate people around the world on waste

management systems and demonstrate the value of plastic waste.

What is Dow doing to help?

Our #PullingOurWeight cleanup campaign is just one step in that journey. On the following pages we outline the other key partnerships, projects and product innovations that are

the cornerstone of our sustainability efforts.

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Dow is partnering with organizations to solve global challenges1

We know that we can’t solve the plastic waste issue alone. To affect much-needed change, we’re bringing

together governments, waste management companies, environmental organizations, our customers and

brand owners in partnership.

• Building a global alliance to end plastic waste in the environment: Dow is a founding

member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), a newly formed organization focused

on developing and scaling solutions that manage plastic waste and promote post-use

solutions of plastic. To date, AEPW’s members have committed more than $1 billion, with the

goal of raising $1.5 billion over the next five years.

• Engaging with government: Dow is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global

Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), a group initially funded by the governments of Canada

and the U.K., along with Dow and several global brands, to bring business, communities and

government together to transform the global “take-make-dispose” economy into a circular

one. GPAP’s first project is a collaboration with the government of Indonesia, where it’s

working with the country’s key leaders to develop a concrete roadmap to eliminate plastic

waste.

• Investing in people and companies working toward solutions: Dow is a founding investor

in the Ocean Fund, Circulate Capital’s $100 million effort to incubate and finance companies

and infrastructure that prevent waste in oceans, particularly in South Asia. Circulate Capital’s

mission is to demonstrate the viability of investment in the waste management and recycling

sectors to attract the institutional investment capital needed to scale integrated recycling and

waste management companies and infrastructure.

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Dow is finding innovative ways to use recycled plastics and support reuse 2

We are working hard to uncover new applications for end-of-life plastics, demonstrating that a circular

world is not that far out of reach:

• Converting recycled plastic into roads: Working with a range of local organizations around the

globe, Dow is constructing roads using recycled plastic. Our pilot program, which includes two roads

at our Freeport, Texas facility – Plastics Road and Gulfstream Road – was recognized by FORTUNE’s

2019 “Change the World” list, a ranking of 52 companies that have made important social or

environmental impacts.

• Turning waste into value: In partnership with the Bandung Institute of Technology (IBT), Dow’s

Project MASARO, which is Indonesian for “zero waste,” provides communities in Indonesia with a

closed loop waste management system. Piloted in Babakan, the system processes many types of

waste into valuable products, like fuel and fertilizer, that can be used by members of the community.

• Recycling for a Change: In Brazil, waste picker cooperatives are responsible for sorting trash and

selling it to recycling companies. They play an important role in the larger waste management chain.

Supported by Dow, Recycling for a Change is a project with startup Boomera and NGO Avina to

create a training, professional development and strategic support model to enable waste picker

cooperatives in Brazil to become more sustainable and profitable, while providing the highest quality

materials to enhance the plastics recycling value chain. Within months of launching the program in

Brazil’s largest waste producer, São Paulo, cooperative productivity climbed to 70%, sales increased

by 50%, and average monthly salaries rose above minimum wage.

• Enhancing waste management while helping create jobs: Introduced in 2017, Dow’s Project

Butterfly works with communities in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Algeria to tackle poor

waste management. For example, in the township of Tembisa, Johannesburg, Project Butterfly works

with non-profit organizations and local communities to reduce plastic pollution through education,

clean-up and innovation-focused initiatives, which create jobs and ultimately change the conversation

around plastics and their value for society.

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Dow is investing in new technologies to reduce plastic waste

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We are driving innovation around new products and recycling processes, using fewer resources and

supporting reusability as part of our commitment to advancing end-of-life solutions for plastic:

• Innovating for recyclability: Dow’s RecycleReady technology enables manufacturers to develop

packaging that can qualify for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s “How2Recycle” label and can be

recycled via polyethylene recycling streams such as the grocery store drop-off system in the U.S.

• Turning plastic waste into oil: Dow is partnering with Fuenix to use plastic waste as a recycled

feedstock for producing new polymers. The process breaks down mixed waste plastics into their

original form to manufacture virgin polymers. The polymers produced will be identical to products

from traditional feedstocks and can be used in the same applications.

• Improving mechanical recycling: Dow recently announced the launch of Dow AGILITYTM CE, a new

resin made with 70 percent recycled plastic. Traditionally, mechanically recycled content is often

diminished or degraded in quality, but AGILITYTM CE offers a consistent and high-quality product that

can be used in shrink films as secondary packaging for the transportation of cans or bottles.

• Advancing waste to energy: Dow participates in numerous initiatives that transform waste into

valuable fuels. One example is the Hefty® EnergyBag® program, which collects hard-to-recycle

plastics from consumers at their curbsides and converts them into valuable resources, including

energy, fuels, and other feedstocks. To date, the program has collected more than 233,000 bags/153

tons of hard-to-recycle plastics.

• Harnessing bio-based feedstocks: In partnership with UPM Biofuels, a producer of advanced

biofuels, Dow turns waste residue from paper production into naptha, creating an alternative and

renewable feedstock for plastics production. This waste product comes from sustainably managed

forests – extracted as a residue when separating wood fiber for pulp production. Unlike other

alternative renewable feedstocks, no extra land resources are required and there is no competition

with the human food chain. This approach is reducing CO2 emissions by more than 50% when

compared to standard fossil derived PE resins.

• Creating a circular economy for plastic in Thailand: Dow has signed a collaboration agreement

with Siam Cement Group to jointly develop new complete recycling solutions to add value to plastic

waste and prevent them from ending up in the environment. The products anticipated from the

collaboration are outputs of mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling as well as renewable feedstock.

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We must do a better job of capturing and reusing plastic by scaling investments in collection, waste management, recycling technologies and new end markets.

Working together, we know that we can create a circular world for plastic.

Dow is committed to doing its part and we hope you are too. There’s no time to waste.

Plastic waste is one of the most important sustainability issues of our time.

Dow Plastic Sustainability, 2020

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