At Dow, our goal is to be a sustainability leader by providing products that support people and our planet’s wellbeing — whether by combatting climate change or working to eliminate waste. But we can’t do this alone.
I’ve always believed that the reason we should strive for a more sustainable
world is to enjoy the highest-possible quality of life. Born on a dairy farm in
Northwest Iowa, I learned the value of conservation at a young age. My
grandfather received an award for being the first farmer in Iowa to use terraces
to prevent soil erosion. We carried on his legacy by producing dairy for our
region while protecting our fragile ecosystems. My childhood taught me a
fundamental principle: Sustainable systems provide people with the resources
they need to live well. The same is true in business.
After college, I joined Dow as a trained chemical
engineer at a time when sustainability mostly meant that a company looked after
its own eco-footprint. At Dow, even in 1988, we were practicing a more advanced
sustainability without having a name for it. I spent most of my early career
designing high-performance materials that reduced the use of plastic to provide
customers with more value while benefitting the environment (and yes, a plastics
company was working to help its customers use less plastic!). In 1992, Dow
launched an external environmental council with leaders from NGOs, government,
academia and business that played a vital role in furthering our approach to
sustainability. Years later, our roots in science and innovation — coupled with
an outside-in perspective on the environment — helped transform Dow into an
industry leader.
Now, Dow’s and my time are focused on three key
priorities:
reducing plastic waste, putting plastic back into a circular economy, and
reducing our carbon footprint.
Reducing plastic waste
One of our priorities is keeping plastic out of the environment and properly
managing plastic after it serves its purpose. That means ensuring the right
systems are in place for waste collection and management. Dow has been a
long-time sponsor of consumer-based clean-up efforts including Keep America
Beautiful’s Great American Clean-Up and the Ocean
Conservancy’s International Coastal
Clean-Up. These events remove millions of pounds of waste from the environment
while building awareness around the importance of prevention.
Putting plastic back into a circular economy
Supporting a plastics-related circular
economy means
assembling every piece of the circularity puzzle to make solutions work. This
includes materials development, design and manufacturing, disposal and reuse.
Dow has invested in co-creating many solutions that range from utilizing
recycled plastic in newly paved
roads to
finding new uses for old
mattresses.
We’re also really proud of the award-winning
work we did with Kashi
on its Bear Naked Granola flexible
package.
After listening to our customers, we realized that business needs to take the
onus off the individual, and instead innovate new systems and products that make
sustainability simple. Out of this partnership came an innovative new packaging
and a drop-off recycling program at local retail stores. Products like these
help people support sustainability in their daily lives.
There is a very human aspect to a circular economy, as well: local waste
workers. I’m really excited about the Recycling for a Change
program,
which we’ve funded through the Avina
Foundation. Often working at landfills or on
the street, waste workers in countries including Brazil collect, sort and
resell recyclables — yet, they’re undervalued and often subsist without a living
wage. By providing training, professionalization and safer equipment, Recycling
for a Change helps these waste workers transform their lives from vulnerable
laborers to skilled professionals. In São Paulo, in only a few months, we
saw a 70 percent increase in recycled goods and a 50 percent increase in the
resale of recyclables. This is another project where the benefits are two-fold —
we’re protecting the environment while improving people’s livelihoods.
Reducing our carbon footprint for climate action
Investments in a circular economy and reducing plastic usage play a meaningful
role in tackling climate change, too. The relationship between plastics usage
and carbon footprint is not as simple or intuitive as people would like. While
most plastics are made from natural gas and oil, the production of which results
in greenhouse gas emissions, plastics are used in applications that result in a
lower carbon footprint than alternative materials.
Plastics can have other positive impacts, such as reducing the weight of
vehicles, which reduces fuel consumption; and providing insulation for
buildings, which reduces heating and cooling energy loads.
Recovery and reuse of recyclables such as plastic can play an important role in
reducing climate risk, as well — by making more efficient use of the materials
we’ve already invested in manufacturing.
In addition to creating circular solutions, Dow has set the long-term
goal
of becoming a carbon-neutral company by 2050. To achieve this, we’re addressing
emissions from our operations, as well as indirect emissions across our value
chain.
What’s next
At Dow, our vision for the future is clear: to be a sustainability leader by
providing innovative, sustainable products that support people and our planet’s
wellbeing — whether by combatting climate change or working to eliminate waste.
But we can’t do this alone.
That’s why we will continue to share our expertise in science, technology and
innovation with partners. Join us; together, we will support and strengthen
ecosystems everywhere — so that we can all enjoy a higher quality of life on
this planet that we all share.
Learn more about our commitment to a world without waste here.
Published Feb 19, 2021 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET
Global Sustainability Director
Dow
Over the course of my 32 years at Dow, I’ve been fortunate to combine my love of sustainability and engineering. Today I serve as the Global Sustainability Director for Packaging and Specialty Plastics, and I proudly serve on the board of directors for GreenBlue.
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