DSM and Sabic combine efforts to create recycled-based Dyneema

The global science-based company, DSM, and the global leader in the chemical industry, Sabic announced a collaboration to create recycled-based Dyneema. Through a joint pilot with multiple CirculariTeam members, the manufacturing and usage of Dyneema using mixed plastic waste as feedstock (via mass balance approach) will be successfully demonstrated. It is an important step toward the future goal of fully closing the loop by delivering Dyneema made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMwPE) waste. This collaboration underlines DSM’s and Sabic’s efforts to accelerate a circular economy for materials.

By working together with members of CirculariTeam, DSM will produce recycled-based Dyneema made using Sabic’s certified circular ethylene as a pilot project in both a sailing rope and a pelagic trawl net application. The circular ethylene, from Sabic’s Trucircle portfolio, uses mixed plastic waste as feedstock (mass balance approach), which not only contributes to preventing valuable plastic from becoming waste and the avoidance of carbon emissions compared to incineration, but it will also help preserve fossil resources. These pilots are an important early-stage milestone in the journey toward making fully circular Dyneema from HMPE post-production and post-consumer waste.

“This achievement is a key milestone on the journey toward our goal of delivering a fully circular Dyneema. By working with partners from across the value chain, we are able to significantly reduce the environmental impact of the world’s strongest fiber - and we will continue to explore ways of reducing and eliminating waste across the entire product lifecycle”, Jan-Lodewijk Lindemulder, President DSM Protective Materials. Said.

“At Sabic, we firmly believe that only through collaboration and innovation can we drive forward and develop solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders. This is another important step closer to closing the loop on Dyneema. Moving forward, through our Trucircle solutions and beyond, we will continue to make every effort to deliver a more sustainable value chain and economy”, Mark Vester, Circular Economy Leader at Sabic, added.