#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-03-25

DSM and industry partners launch coalition to close the loop on Dyneema®, the world’s strongest fiber™

Royal DSM, a global science-based company in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, today announces that it, along with leading industry partners, has launched a new coalition, known as CirculariTeam®. The coalition aims to drive the transition towards renewable bio- and recycled based resources within its respective industry. CirculariTeam® provides a common platform to share knowledge, resources, and technological solutions, with the goal of closing the loop on Dyneema®, the world’s strongest fiber™.

The cross-industry coalition consists of parties from across the value chain that use DSM’s Dyneema®, the world’s strongest fiber™, in their products. CirculariTeam® aims to drive the transition towards renewable bio- and recycled based resources within its respective industry. This matches DSM’s vision and mission of enabling a circular economy and keeping materials at their highest value for the longest possible time.

CirculariTeam® has identified seven focus areas: reverse logistics, recycle and reuse solutions, improved production efficiency (including waste reduction), separation of waste into material components, design for circularity, regulation, and information sharing. The parties have already begun collaborating on these topics and, by end 2021, CirculariTeam® aims to demonstrate the technical feasibility of making new Dyneema® fiber from post-consumer waste. Throughout the coming years, the coalition will continue to reassess its ambitions and review its progress through regular summits and ongoing communication.

Roeland Polet, Co-Chairman of CirculariTeam® and President DSM Protective Materials: “DSM is dedicated to securing the future availability of natural resources and maximizing the value from the limited resources available. CirculariTeam® will serve as another opportunity to enable this, in line with our existing sustainability targets for DSM Protective Materials. Together with our partners, we can deliver solutions and growth that benefits both business and society at large.”

Wilco Stroet, Senior Vice President Global Maritime Lankhorst Ropes: "We are committed to the aims of the CirculariTeam® coalition in the firm belief that it's our responsibility to leave the world better than we found it. Lankhorst Ropes has long seen sustainability as a key driver for growth and something we embrace wholeheartedly as part of our initiative to encourage circularity wherever possible."

James Kempston, CEO, NP Aerospace: “Dyneema® is a central component to NP Aerospace life-saving armor products and we use significant volumes year on year. We are pleased to be part of the CirculariTeam®. It offers a much-needed forum for cross-industry collaboration on topics such as recycling and renewable materials. We have worked with DSM for over 15 years and it is clear that they are leading the way in manufacturing innovation and green initiatives. We are pleased to be collaborating on this coalition, it will not only enable us to better meet our customers’ growing demands for more sustainable, circular products, but we will be also be able to collectively build a better world for generations to come.”

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

DePoly Inaugurates its Showcase Plant in Monthey Switzerland

What if used plastic bottles, PET packaging material and polyester textiles could become raw materials just as high performing as virgin resources? That is the ambition of DePoly, a circular materials company based in Sion, Switzerland which inaugurated its Showcase Plant in Monthey on July 6th & 7th. The first depolymerization facility of its kind and scale in Switzerland, this industrial Showcase Plant represents a major milestone in the company's growth and its journey toward commercialization.

Commission clarifies rules on plastic bottles recycling

The European Commission today adopted new rules on recycling of single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules establish, for the first time, a methodology to calculate, verify and report chemically recycled content. This is part of the Commission’s December 2025 plastics package.

DyStar releases FY2025 sustainability report, marking a new milestone towards its 2030 targets

DyStar, a leading specialty chemicals company with more than a century of expertise in product development and innovation, today announced the release of its FY2025 Sustainability Report, marking a significant milestone in its sustainability journey and reinforcing its commitment to long-term value creation.

TERIS reaches milestone: Fraunhofer consortium develops new standards for tire analysis

In the “TERIS” project, the Fraunhofer institutes ICT, IGD, and IWM—led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF—have reached a decisive milestone. For the first time, the teams aim to generate, analyse, and predict tire wear in the laboratory in a standardized and practical manner. As part of this milestone, results are now available on reference abrasion, particle analysis, tribological models, AI-based surface analysis, a test bench concept, and methods for accelerated aging and VOC detection. The tire industry, testing services, and environmental agencies will in future benefit from reliable, rapid laboratory procedures for emissions assessment.