Originally posted on Dow.com
Three breakthrough, sustainable innovations from Dow and one circular economy program are winners of the Business Intelligence Group (BIG) 2019 Sustainability Awards . The Sustainability Awards honor those who have made sustainability an integral part of their business practice.
“Dow’s innovation engine continues to deliver breakthrough technologies that meet our customers’ needs, while delivering solutions for the world’s toughest challenges,” said A.N. Sreeram , senior vice president, Research and Development, and chief technology officer for Dow. “Using our unique-to-the-world capabilities, our teams play a key role in advancing the world’s transition to a more sustainable planet through market-driven, sustainable solutions.”
Mary Draves, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety, and chief sustainability officer for Dow, added, “I couldn’t be prouder of this year’s award winners. Sustainability is a driving force in today’s global economy. As part of our 2025 Sustainability Goals, our teams are working hard to deliver breakthrough sustainable chemistry innovations. And, the circular economy program from Dow Polyurethanes is a model for closed loop systems across value chains. We’re grateful for the recognition of our efforts from Business Intelligence Group.”
Learn more about the 2019 Sustainability award-winning circular economy program and sustainable technologies from Dow:
Sustainability Initiative of the Year:
- RENUVA™ Mattress Project, the flagship initiative of RENUVA™, the circular economy program from Dow Polyurethanes, sets out to recycle polyurethane foam from end-of-life mattresses. It aims to bring the entire value chain together in a new business eco-system model with opportunity for partnerships with recycling companies, equipment and material manufacturers, polyurethane foam producers, brand owners and other value chain participants. With Redesign, Recycle, Reuse and Re-Manufacture as its core values, RENUVA helps support the transition of polyurethane-based products from a linear to a circular economy, helping to optimize the use and reuse of resources and ultimately to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills or incineration.
Sustainability Products of the Year:
- Dow PRIMAL™ Bio-based Acrylic Emulsion are produced with carbon from plants to replace significant amounts of petroleum sourced material, which leads to a higher renewable carbon content. These polymers not only enable the formulated paints to get USDA Bio-based Certification, but also offers excellent properties with ultra-low odor, low VOC, low emission and formaldehyde abatement function. This can effectively improve indoor air quality, which consumers value for healthier living.
- DOWSIL™ TC-3015 Re-workable Thermal Conductive Silicone Gel is the world’s first thermal conductive silicone gel designed for smartphone re-workability enables more sustainable assembly and recycling of consumer and communications electronics while addressing the critical thermal management needs of these devices. Re-workability allows for easy device disassembly to limit discarded units in assembly, to facilitate device repair and to enable better end-of-life separation of components for recycling.
- RENUVA™ Polyols are new, high-value recycled raw materials created from the conversion of end-of-life mattresses. RENUVA polyols can be tailored for different applications, such as flexible foam or PIR rigid foam for construction applications. As an example of true circularity, RENUVA polyols can be used as a starting point for new foam mattresses. During the last 12 months, the RENUVA team optimized a chemical process to break down foam from end-of-life mattresses to have a tailored performance in the application and to maximize the utilization in new foam recipes. Replacement of up to 25 percent of the virgin polyol in conventional flexible foam recipes was achieved without deterioration of the foam physical properties.
For more information about Dow’s innovation engine, visit Areas of Expertise and Awards. See Highlights and Reporting for Dow’s sustainability progress.
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