Royal DSM will start a strategic partnership with Neste to enable the production of high performance polymers made from sustainable feedstock. This enables DSM and its customers to reduce the carbon footprint of their own products while supporting the industry to transition to a circular economy.

In the new strategic collaboration, DSM Engineering Materials will start replacing a significant portion of the fossil feedstock used to date in the manufacture of its high performance polymers portfolio with feedstock produced from recycled waste plastics and/or 100% bio-based hydrocarbons. These polymers are used, for example, in the automotive, electronics and packaging industries.

Over the short term, the collaboration aims to replace several thousand tons of fossil feedstock in the production of polymers with alternative, sustainable feedstock: bio-based and waste-plastic-based hydrocarbons.

Neste produces its bio-based hydrocarbons entirely from renewable raw materials, such as waste and residue oils and fats. For the production of waste plastic derived feedstock, Neste focuses on plastics that cannot be mechanically recycled and have previously been directed to incineration and landfilling.

Being drop-in replacements to commonly-used fossil feedstocks in polymers production, Neste’s products are suitable for existing production infrastructures and enable DSM to produce more sustainable products with consistently high quality using its existing processes.

All of the chemically recycled and bio-based materials within the value chain will have the globally recognized ISCC Plus certification and will not require re-qualification.

The new strategic cooperation underlines a commitment from both partners to contribute to a circular economy by collaborating throughout the value chain, and addressing the increasing consumer, societal and regulatory demand for more sustainable circular solutions.

We have a long history of delivering tangible proof points of our commitment to sustainability. As a next step we are going to even further reduce our footprint and will offer a full alternative range of our existing portfolio based on bio- and/or recycled-based materials by 2030. Together with our upstream partner Neste and other value chain partners we’re ready to drive our industry forward, seize the sustainable opportunities ahead, and deliver on our purpose of creating brighter lives for all.

—Shruti Singhal, President DSM Engineering Materials

Neste RE. Earlier, Neste launched Neste RE, a 100% renewable and recycled raw material for plastics and chemicals production. It reduces the need to use virgin fossil resources, while it also provides a new solution to the end-of-life related challenges the polymers and chemicals industries are facing today. Neste RE can be used in a wide range of plastics applications, from sports gear to toys, even in sensitive applications such as high-performing medical equipment. Neste RE makes it possible to use bio-based waste and residues and waste plastic in the manufacture of high-quality products.

Neste RE is both renewable and recycled: the product’s renewable components can be produced from waste and residue oils and fats and sustainably-produced vegetable oils. The recycled component is produced from chemically-recycled plastic waste that cannot be recycled mechanically, such as colored, multilayer or multi material packaging.