infotech

Dow-Google Develops AI Technology For Soft Plastic Recycling

US chemical and materials company Dow Chemical has partnered with Google in a partnership to improve the recycling of soft plastics such as film and flexible materials. This effort is carried out by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in recycling systems. This type of plastic is commonly used in food packaging and consumer products, but is difficult to sort because it consists of a mixture of plastics and other chemicals. As a result, waste from film and flexible plastics is often not processed in regular recycling systems. 

Dow Chemical's Global Sustainability Director for Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Han Zhang, said the collaboration combines Dow's expertise in materials science with Google's AI technology. "This new approach can change the way recycling centers manage plastic, making it more efficient and effective," Zhang said as quoted by esgtoday on Tuesday (6/5/2025). 

Meanwhile, Google said that this project is a continuation of the previous initiative entitled Moonshot for Circularity, where over the past few years they have built a database of packaging plastics using chemistry, machine learning, AI, and Google's computing power. The data is used to support the identification and sorting of plastics on an industrial scale. In the latest partnership, Google and Dow are targeting the implementation of a similar system for film and flexible plastics. Dow is considered to have an important role, because it functions as a producer and recycler of these materials. 

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Tag: AI AI Technology Dow-Google Soft Plastic Recycling