Dow, a materials science company serving customers in packaging, infrastructure, mobility and consumer applications, has announced an equity stake in Xycle, a Rotterdam-based pioneer in advanced (also known as chemical) recycling technology, alongside investors ING, Invest-NL, Polestar Capital and Vopak. This marks an important milestone in Dow’s ongoing commitment to transform plastic waste into high-value materials and accelerate a circular economy for plastics by further increasing and diversifying access to circular feedstock.
The collective funds, comprising both equity investments and senior debt, will support the construction of Xycle’s first commercial-scale advanced recycling plant, strategically located in the Port of Rotterdam. The facility is expected to be fully operational by Q4 2026, with a projected plastic waste processing capacity of 21 kilotons annually (kta). Dow will be an off-taker of the circular feedstock produced and will utilize it to manufacture new circular plastics, which are in high demand from global customers and brands.
Xycle’s advanced recycling technology uses low-temperature pyrolysis to efficiently break down difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into pyrolysis oil, increasing the liquid fraction available for use as cracker feedstock in new plastic production. This circular feedstock can be used to manufacture virgin-quality plastics for high-value applications, such as food-grade packaging, and medical and automotive components.
“We are thrilled to announce this strategic investment in Xycle which marks another pivotal step towards our goal to transform the waste,” commented Stephanie Kalil, commercial vice president, Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics EMEA. “The performance and efficiency of Xycle’s technology strongly complements our increasingly diverse global portfolio of recycling solutions. We believe that the robust financial backing and credibility of our consortium partners demonstrates the strength of the opportunity at hand to scale advanced recycling technologies; to address the plastic waste challenge and meet growing customer demand for circular products.”
The modular layout of Xycle’s facilities allows production to scale up or down depending on demand, ensuring both flexibility and efficiency in operations. In the future, Xycle plans to develop more advanced recycling facilities globally, utilizing larger reactor sizes to increase single plant capacity to 100 kta.
Arnd Thomas, chief executive officer, Xycle Holding commented: “Dow’s investment – alongside our other partners – in Xycle’s first commercial facility marks a significant step in developing and expanding our innovative pyrolysis-based technology, which has been shown to deliver best-in-class yield for cracker feedstock. Working closely with Dow will ensure we can leverage their expertise in developing high-quality circular materials, enabling us to scale our unique technology and accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastics.”
Dow’s investment in Xycle is part of a broad portfolio of technologies to transform plastic waste and other forms of alternative feedstocks into 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable solutions annually. Seen as a complementary process to the mechanical recycling solutions Dow is accelerating, the advanced recycling process from Xycle allows for a wide range of plastic waste to be transformed back into virgin-quality circular materials. Xycle’s technology can process mixed plastic waste that currently can’t be mechanically recycled and, as a result, ends up in landfills or incineration.
Dow and Xycle share a commitment to advancing innovative recycling solutions that create a circular economy for plastics. This investment is an example of how Dow works with expert partners to build ecosystems that collect, reuse or recycle waste to meet growing customer demand.
