Resources & Circularity

Our EcoPaXX® thermoplastic delivers outstanding performance in demanding "under the hood" automotive applications - while being 70% made from castor beans with a 100% carbon neutral footprint. Meanwhile its sister material Arnite® XT helps produce electronic power steering systems that are 50% lighter, cost 10-40% less to manufacture, and have a 40% smaller carbon footprint compared to aluminium equivalents.

In food and beverages our Brewers Clarex® innovation helps brewers reduce waste by improving beer filtration cycle lengths, thus reducing the amount of beer and water lost; while our Pack-Age® solution for naturally ripening cheese not only reduces wastage in the cheese cutting process by up to 10%, it also enables manufacturers to save 0.5 liters of milk for every 1kg of cheese ripened.

Our Decovery® plant-based paint resin has up to a 50% bio-based content, mainly from agricultural material that doesn’t interfere with the food chain and with no compromise on performance.

Our Dyneema® fiber is used for many applications these days, not least deep water mooring chains where it delivers maximum performance with minimum weight – and the lowest carbon footprint per unit of strength.

Meanwhile, our Akulon® and Stanyl® thermoplastics are replacing metal and extending the lives of automotive parts like airbag systems and under-the-hood components respectively. 

In food applications our natural preservatives protect a wide variety of products from spoilage including cheese, yoghurt, meat, and baked goods. For example, Delvo®Guard protects and extends the shelf life of fresh dairy products and all with no compromise on the look, taste or smell of the finished product. 

Take our Niaga® Technology, for example. Traditionally, the underside of a carpet is formed of various layers glued together and attached to latex. Separating these layers while ensuring they remain a good enough quality for recycling is simply too difficult – which results in some 4.5 billon square meters of carpet waste each year. Niaga is a way of making products like carpet - and more recently, mattresses - using just one non-toxic material - which in turn enables a 100% recyclable carpet, produced with up to 90% less energy.

Another good example is our Arnitel® VT, a breathable thermoplastic used in outdoor clothing and hospital gowns. It’s 100% recyclable, with no perfluorinated chemicals - which makes it a far superior alternative to traditional materials. This principle also extends to the Endurance backsheets we produce for the solar industry. Backsheets play an essential role in protecting the solar module from the elements and were traditionally made from cheap non-recyclable materials. Ours are 100% recyclable with a 30% lower carbon footprint than traditional equivalents.

Akulon® RePurposed is recycled from discarded nylon-based fishing nets and is known for its sustainability profile as much as its performance. The fishing nets are gathered from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea by local fishermen, are sorted and cleaned by local communities and are processed by DSM into recycle-based materials to be used in sports and leisure applications. By doing so DSM supports litter-free beaches, a healthier marine environment and creates a positive social impact for several local communities in India. 

Together with our partner POET we’re also creating biofuel made from corn stover, the above-ground plant left after harvesting - rather than fossils.

Sustainable proteins are another innovation area for DSM, where we’ve transformed the previously inedible agricultural byproduct of rapeseed oil extraction into a valuable plant protein called CanolaPro®. It tastes great and is used in everything from energy bars to cereal.