Dow Co-Sponsors Pilot Program for Plastic Waste Conversion
The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., introduced the Energy Bag Pilot Program,which demonstrates that certain plastics like juice pouches that are not easily recyclable under traditional models can be converted into synthetic crude oil for fuel.
Dow joined forces with the Flexible Packaging Association, Annapolis, Md.; Republic Services, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz.; Agilyx Corp., Beaverton, Ore.; Reynolds Consumer Products, LLC, Lake Forest, Ill.; and the city of Citrus Heights, Calif., during the course of 2014 to drive a collection pilot program intended to divert non-recycled plastics from landfills and optimize their resource efficiency across the lifecycle. From June to August 2014, approximately 26,000 households in Citrus Heights were given purple bags—known as “energy bags”—in which participants were asked to collect plastic items not currently eligible for mechanical recycling, so they could instead be diverted from the landfill and converted into energy. Collected items included juice pouches, frozen food bags and more.