The Future Is Green: Dow Global Sustainability Director Haley Lowry On Their Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet
Systems thinking and collaboration with top experts: Solving the plastic waste challenge requires systems thinking — looking beyond individual actions to create interconnected solutions that drive real impact. At Dow, we prioritize collaboration with leading global experts, NGOs, governments and industry partners to build scalable, innovative waste management and recycling systems.
As we face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. This series seeks to spotlight the innovative minds and passionate advocates who are leading the charge in environmental conservation and sustainable practices. We aim to explore the most effective strategies, breakthrough technologies and transformative policies that are shaping a more sustainable future for our planet. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Haley Lowry, Global Sustainability Director at Dow.
Haley Lowry is a Global Sustainability Director at Dow with 20 years of experience creating new circular business models and products that integrate social, environmental and commercial goals across consumer packaged goods, retail and plastics sectors. As an ambitious leader in sustainability, she has shaped one of the largest company risks into a growth opportunity. She frequently speaks about plastic waste and solutions at GreenBiz, USAID and SXSW and has been published in Sustainable Brands, WEF and The Guardian.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
I’m the Global Sustainability Director for Packaging and Specialty Plastics at Dow. I have 20 years of experience in the packaging industry and have worn many hats at Dow, from sales and marketing to business development, before leading our global sustainability work.
For those who don’t know Dow, we are one of the world’s leading materials science companies. We offer a wide range of products and services, including plastics, coatings, silicones and more. Our products help keep food fresh, enable medical supplies and drive the green revolution as part of electric vehicles and renewable energy. Our materials and design work may be a part of your shoes, your baby food packaging and maybe even the infrastructure around you including vehicles and renewable energy.
In my role, I help integrate environmental goals with our commercial goals by driving circularity at scale and transforming our business into what the market wants and the world needs.
I’m passionate about driving transformation and systems change, a focus I have nurtured throughout my career in sustainability and beyond. I’ve had the privilege of helping launch Dow’s Business Impact Fund and pioneering the growth of our global packaging innovation lab, Pack Studios. Beyond Dow, I frequently speak and publish on plastic waste and solutions and volunteer as a mentor and consultant for social impact initiatives.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
A few years ago, I traveled to the Philippines for work, where I met with a company innovating around plastic waste. This trip showed me how a country with little waste management infrastructure — such as collection, access to recycling and sorting — was impacted by trash, including in its waterways and the ocean. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to devote the rest of my career to addressing this solvable problem. The UN is negotiating a global plastic pollution treaty now that aims at solving waste management infrastructure around the world. Several policy levers like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are being proposed, which is one solution for financing. I’m encouraged and hopeful this year the world will be able to agree on this treaty.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Creativity — Thinking outside of the box to find solutions. I’ve always loved grey spaces and being creative in terms of business models. Through Dow’s Business Impact Fund, we allocate funds to projects that have environmental, social and business impact. Intrapreneurs from all over the company partner with external organizations to pitch a project to win funding. This has been a great way to drive the spirit of intrapreneurship, build strong partnerships and develop new revenue streams for the company. Since its launch in 2016, the Fund has supported 65 projects in 23 countries totaling nearly $14MM in investment.
- Resiliency — The ability to bounce back after setbacks is crucial. There were many times when projects didn’t go as planned and the pressure to succeed was immense. Staying true to your north star, pivoting for greater impact and bringing along others have helped build that muscle. Growing business and protecting the environment should never be at odds.
- Courage — Being able to take risks and be bold when others may hesitate. It’s ok to fail, but fail fast. Caveat the failure in an intelligent way by limiting the exposure and adapting quickly. Amy Edmondson’s book “The Right Kind of Wrong — The Science of Failing Well” is a new favorite.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
Dow aims to transform plastic waste and other alternative feedstocks into 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable solutions annually. In a major step toward this goal, Dow recently announced its acquisition of Circulus, a leading recycler of plastic waste into post-consumer resin.
The acquisition includes two facilities — one in Oklahoma and one in Alabama — with a combined capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year, significantly increasing access to usable waste. Dow, a plastics producer, will now be a recycler. This demonstrates our commitment to evolving our business model. It’s a groundbreaking shift.
Ultimately, this move will strengthen the economics of circular waste systems and help our customers and brands, like Crocs and Nestle Purina, meet their sustainability goals.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What pivotal moment led you to dedicate your career to sustainability, and how has that shaped your approach to environmental challenges?
I’ve always loved new spaces, unchartered territories and business transformation. I attended a course that was all about using business models to drive not only bottom-line profit but also social and environmental impact.
We’ve surpassed our planetary boundaries and need to be resource efficient. I learned about how we must rethink our business models, manufacturing, ways of working in the partnerships we choose, systems (such as recycling) and even ways of investing. Whoever can solve these challenges will win the market.
I knew I was driven by impact and felt firmly that the companies that would survive for the next 50 years would be those who did good for society and the environment while making money!
That’s why when I joined Dow leading sustainability for our business, I knew I’d landed a dream job. Having had the opportunity to see, study and partner with recycling systems around the world, I know a circular economy is not only possible but also profitable.
Could you describe a groundbreaking project or initiative you’ve been involved in that significantly contributed to sustainability?
The most impactful sustainability solutions for businesses are those that lessen our environmental footprint while contributing to business growth. Our customers are looking for solutions to reduce their emissions. At the same time, Dow is also making investments in support of that need. However, given this is an emerging space, there are evolving standards on how to ensure this work is done in a way that is credible and verifiable. That’s why Dow is working to advance the use of market-based carbon accounting mechanisms to encourage value chain members to work together to decarbonize.
The market-based methodology we are engaging with customers is an approach to implementing mass balance that enables the delivery of low emissions and high-value products. For those newer to mass balance, mass balance standards are a key tool to measure and claim the amount of plastic made from advanced recycling and third-party organizations certify those claims. Mass balance is already used to track sustainability measures in other industries, including paper and renewable energy. It’s a way to incentivize manufacturers and brands to use recycled content over traditional raw material sources. Based on current standards and industry guidelines, this method allows us to offer credible, low-carbon products to customers in the form of Product Carbon Footprint certificates, helping them to achieve emissions commitments.
Considering its positive business impact, this has huge potential to drive greater investment in value chain decarbonization.
We’re working with standard setters, customers, suppliers and third-party verification agencies to shape the evolution of standards like the CFL that help strengthen the business case for low-carbon products and decarbonization investments.
How do you navigate the balance between economic growth and environmental preservation in your sustainability strategies?
Environmental stewardship isn’t just a responsibility, it’s essential for long-term economic growth. Dow recognizes that growth can’t come at the expense of the environment, which is why we integrate sustainable solutions into our business strategy to create value from waste.
One example is in Argentina, home to one of the world’s largest landfills, where a recycling initiative in the city of Olavarria has brought together more than 30 partners, including the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Argentina’s largest waste management company, a local recycling company and environmental non-profit Delterra.
This program aims to develop a replicable, economically sustainable and inclusive model for municipal waste management. Key initiatives include implementing curbside collection, building a sorting facility and identifying end markets for sorted recyclables and compost. After three years, the program has successfully introduced curbside collection for recyclables in 70% of the city and established a modern, fully operational materials recovery facility. As part of our commitment, Dow is incorporating the post-consumer recyclables from this initiative into our RevoloopTM recycled plastics resins line.
Through RevoloopTM, we have collaborated with brands like Heineken in Brazil and Reynolds in North America to integrate recycled plastic waste into shrink film, demonstrating that plastics can be part of a circular economy rather than ending up in landfills.
What emerging technologies or innovations do you believe hold the most promise for advancing sustainability and why?
Dow is investing in chemical recycling technology, also known as advanced recycling, to enable broader use of recycled plastic. Advanced recycling offers massive, untapped market potential and the ability to incorporate recycled content into highly regulated and technically challenging applications, such as food-grade and medical-grade packaging.
We recently announced a partnership with Xycle to invest in the construction of their advanced recycling facility in Rotterdam, where they’ll be transforming hard-to-recycle plastic waste into circular feedstock for new products. This flagship facility will house new innovative pyrolysis technology aimed at transforming 21 kilotons of plastic waste annually into high-quality circular feedstock. The site’s modular design will ensure scalable, efficient operations when it launches in Q4 2026, marking it as a significant milestone in transforming the waste.
Dow is partnering across the global materials ecosystem to develop new recycling technologies and construct advanced recycling and mechanical recycling facilities. For example, Dow is part of a joint development agreement with Procter & Gamble to create new recycling technology that can enable efficient conversion of hard-to-recycle plastic packaging into recycled polyethylene with near-virgin quality and a low greenhouse gas emissions footprint.
We’ve also partnered with Freepoint Eco-Systems to build an advanced recycling system that converts plastic waste into valuable materials. The supply agreement for 65,000 metric tons of circular feedstock advances the circular economy for plastics in North America.
We will see more growth and innovation in advanced recycling technology in the years to come. In fact, U.S. companies have already announced $17.5B in projects dedicated to advanced recycling, mechanical recycling and recovery, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). These commitments have been made without regulatory certainty — imagine what’s possible with clear regulations in place.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet”?
1. Systems thinking and collaboration with top experts: Solving the plastic waste challenge requires systems thinking — looking beyond individual actions to create interconnected solutions that drive real impact. At Dow, we prioritize collaboration with leading global experts, NGOs, governments and industry partners to build scalable, innovative waste management and recycling systems.
2. Building a suite of complementary technologies to recycle more types of waste: There is no “one solution fits all” path to reducing plastic waste. But through unique collaborations, we can innovate using a range of recycling technologies, such as advanced recycling, mechanical recycling and bio-based plastics, to take a major leap in creating high-quality recycling solutions. For example, Dow’s partnership with P&G to develop dissolution technology, which is a form of recycling, that can convert more hard-to-recycle plastic packaging into recycled polyethylene with near-virgin quality and a low greenhouse gas emissions footprint.
3. Design for circularity: Circularity starts with design by creating products with recyclability and reuse in mind.
Designing for circularity means a new generation of high-performance plastics that can be made efficiently while delivering durability, reusability and recyclability at the end of life. The ultimate goal is to create solutions so that no plastic ever becomes waste but instead is re-entered into the circular ecosystem and turned into recycled material.
4. Policy that enables systems to scale and people to recycle in easier ways: Regulations like EPR and other policies can help fund the transition to a circular economy by unlocking targeted investments in recovery and sorting of plastic waste, creating a circular feedstock for new plastics. A global plastics agreement would also help harmonize policy efforts to support a circular economy for plastics in an inclusive way.
5. Be willing to test, learn, even fail and welcome diverse ideas to the table: Sustainable innovation requires experimentation, and progress often comes from testing new ideas, learning from setbacks and iterating quickly. By embracing a mindset of continuous improvement and welcoming diverse perspectives — from scientists to waste collectors to policymakers — we can develop more effective, scalable solutions for a cleaner planet. You can see how some of these new innovations come to life in a recent film we developed with Economist Impact.
In your view, what are the key steps individuals, communities and governments need to take to achieve a more sustainable future?
While we are taking steps to combat the global plastic waste crisis, today, less than 10% of plastic is currently recycled worldwide, and 32% of plastic packaging escapes collection systems — highlighting the inadequacy of existing funding and policy frameworks within the waste management ecosystem. Coordinated global action is essential to changing this. We need deep engagement with communities and value chains to drive systemic change.
The world has responded to plastic pollution with urgency. The UN and global leaders have now completed more than five rounds of negotiations for a global plastics pollution treaty — a monumental step forward. Dow fully supports an agreement that aims to eliminate plastic pollution by fostering a socially inclusive, circular economy for plastics while recognizing the vital role these materials play in ensuring a low-carbon future.
Partnerships can make an immense impact. We’ve partnered with UK advanced recycling company Mura Technology to build multiple facilities across the United States and Europe, adding up to 600 kilotons of advanced recycling capacity. This will be transformational. However, it is critical to understand that for more of these innovative partnerships to occur, it will require a receptive policy landscape and more financial incentives to be successful at scale.
While recycling is a global problem, it’s an issue that needs to be solved on a local level. For example, New York has local policies and regulations that support recycling and circularity. Despite facing unique waste management challenges, such as building density and limited bin space, 89% of New York households have access to recycling, one of the highest rates among U.S. states, according to a report by The Recycling Partnership. More state and local solutions are required to improve the rate of recycling on a local level.
This is where government policies can play a role; incentivizing and derisking investments. Policies like EPR provide a huge opportunity to further unlock the economics and enable investment in circular solutions.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 😊
One of my favorite innovations is from an organization where I have the privilege of sitting on the board: The Recycling Partnership, an NGO committed to transforming the US recycling system. Today, so many consumers are really confused about recycling, leading them to believe the system is broken and give up on it altogether. We have over 9,000 different recycling systems in the United States — no wonder people are confused.
To address this problem, The Recycling Partnership created Recycle Check, a digital QR code that can help consumers understand whether a package is recyclable based on the zip code where they are. As recycling infrastructure grows and improves, the QR code is automatically updated. It’s not just about fixing a broken system — it’s about building a smarter, more connected one.
I’m also excited about the potential of AI to provide more materials traceability throughout the system. So, I’d like to accelerate the adoption of this QR code on all consumer packaging to increase transparency, efficacy and participation in recycling. People want to know that when they take the time to separate their recyclables, they are supporting a functional system and making an impact.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Follow Haley Lowry and Dow on LinkedIn to stay in touch and visit our website to learn more about the Materials Ecosystem and how we work with others to unlock the value of plastic waste.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
The Future Is Green: Dow Global Sustainability Director Haley Lowry On Their Top Strategies for a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.