Bambang Candra: Dow Bets on Local Circularity in China | Multinationals on China

SFC Correspondent Lu Taoran, Li Deshangyu

2026 marks the first year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan. At the world’s leading plastics and rubber trade fair CHINAPLAS, Dow demonstrated through a series of application-oriented material solutions how the circular economy can truly be implemented and scaled up across the industrial value chain. Bambang Candra, APAC Commercial Vice President, Packaging & Specialty Plastics, Dow, gave an exclusive interview to 21st Century Business Herald.

SFC Markets and Finance: What are Dow P&SP’s latest plans in China, and how do you align with China's development direction?

Bambang Candra: In China, our strategy focused on enhancing operational efficiency, leveraging innovation to drive sustainability solutions, and deepening our market presence to support China's dynamic economic landscape. While these efforts are not just growing our business, we are creating value for our customers, contributing to broader industry transformation in China.

We also focus on driving China's specific value chain partnership. For example, we are working with the recycle ecosystem collaboration. We work with local recycler such as LOVERE to source, process and reintegrate post-consumer plastic waste into PCR resin used domestically.

Brand owners' collaboration also continues rolling out the recycled packaging with leading Chinese fast-moving consumer good players, such as Liby, across multiple product lines. Packaging converters and film producers, also we make a joint development with BOPE, and recyclable flexible packaging, with Chinese converters to accelerate commercialization.

SFC Markets and Finance: What long-term goals has Dow set in terms of leveraging these market needs? What additional investments or strategic deployments will Dow P&SP increase in China in the future?

Bambang Candra: Asia Pacific is a cornerstone for our long-term global growth strategy, and we are fully committed to invest in the future by expanding our supply capability and strengthening regional and China partnerships. We are positioning ourselves to meet the evolving needs of key industries, including consumer goods, automotive, food packaging, and specialty plastics.

Alongside the rapid growth of the Chinese market, Dow has continued to expand and strengthen its business footprint in China. We closely monitor market trends, fully leveraging Dow’s global presence, and combine our advantage in procurement, research and development and production, and certainly services into the Chinese market, as well as our local development and services capability.

We actively pursue business opportunities, especially in high-end, high-value customer industries. We are committed to providing innovative solutions that balance consumer needs with environmental protection. As one of our strategies for our China business, we not only draw on our global expertise, but also rely on an extensive national network of commercial offices, manufacturing sites, and innovation centers to continuously strengthen our local capability and strive to meet the diverse needs of the China and Asia Pacific markets in the best possible way.

SFC Markets and Finance: What development trends and demand changes do you consider noteworthy in Dow's target markets, including packaging, automotive, medical, and consumer goods? Based on your observation, which industries or products are seeing a significant increase in demand for sustainable packaging?

Bambang Candra: Our overall packaging solution is aimed to balance performance and circularity. Now, more than 60 customer and solution applications are displaying this week during CHINAPLAS 2026, delivering higher packaging efficiency, downgauging potential, improved reliability, and better aesthetics. While, we also supported recyclability, recycled content integration, and carbon reduction goals.

Giving an example, all PE mono-material solution, this is all PE material structure that driving flexible packaging to easier recycle and scalability. Technology like BOPE and MDOPE maintain stiffness, strength, and appearance while significantly reducing recycled complexity.

Our ELITE 8068G functional heat-sealed resin improves packaging line efficiency, lowers reject rate, and enhances appearance. Our XUS 61530.30 for paper coating, offering new material options for paper-based packaging and supporting simplification and composite structures. High-barrier MDO, demonstrated the feasibility of a mono-material solution for high barrier requirements.

By high value sectors, we are also focusing on the following: automotive, comfort, lightweight design, and recyclability working together. The next generation seat solution through material innovation delivers lighter, more comfortable, and potentially recyclable automotive interior solutions. Our brand EVOAIR POE artificial leather solution and INFINAIR 3D loop air fiber technology, a part of this solution, is to support the light with design, improved durability, and optimize processing efficiency to meet new vehicle demand for both material performance and sustainability.

In medical, we have technology innovation, safety compliance, and green transformation. We have our HEALTH+ LDPE provides excellent quality, exceptional processibility with higher output, and it's in compliance with global regulatory standards, enabling high purity and high clarity in packaging for safe use.

SFC Markets and Finance:  There is a gap between downstream demand for circular plastics and available supply. Dow is talking about the materials ecosystem and seeking a better way to make, use, and reuse plastics. Could you please introduce how this materials ecosystem works?

Bambang Candra: Dow is working with partners across the value chain to transform plastic waste into value by developing both post-consumer recycle material and advancing waste sorting, mechanical recycling and advanced recycling technology. With the goal of building a robust circular material ecosystem that improves plastic collection, recycling, and management, and delivering solutions that are technically viable, commercially scalable, and market ready.

We just announced the MOU with a few of our players here with the China Packaging Federation and Beijing Jingbangda Trade Company (Jingdong Logistics) to advance sustainable and circular packaging in China. This collaboration focused on scaling the use of PCR air tube bags in e-commerce logistics, building on Jingdong Logistic commercial implementation and expanding PCR application across additional logistic packaging categories. This MOU includes a pilot closed-loop recycling and reuse program at Jingdong Logistics facility starting with the Shanghai warehouse number one in Asia, establishing a standardized system for collecting packaging and converting it into PCR material and reintegrating it into logistic packaging.

Another MOU we signed with Nanjing Jufeng New Materials to outline a strategic collaboration to accelerate the large-scale, high-value use of recycled plastic in wood plastic composite, aiming to reduce dependence on virgin plastic while improving product performance, stability, and sustainability to increase market acceptance. This initiative aims to develop replicable circular economy models, an industry-leading benchmarked pilot project. 

SFC Markets and Finance: As a materials supplier, Dow emphasizes collaboration among brand owners, converters, and recyclers, but the interests of different value chain parties are not always aligned. Are there any challenges in the value chain collaboration? How does Dow address or solve these challenges?

Bambang Candra: Asia Pacific is home to some of the largest plastic waste-producing countries example like India, China, Thailand, and Indonesia. Dow is working to increase the capacity for plastic waste collection, sorting, and recycling. In China, we have worked with recycling companies like LOVERE and brand owner Delian. LOVERE has an innovative waste collection system that incentivizes almost 22 million Chinese users to recycle. LOVERE has installed around 31000 Smart Bins across 38 cities from Shanghai to Nanjing and has driven over 1800+ tons of recycling plastic.

The smart bin recycled plastic and the system rewards users with credit on the popular WeChat app, on their own private-party application. This bin uses an advanced tracking system to record drops with details which are instantly shared with users. This is an AI-driven solution track, the full journey of plastic brought from the collection bin to the sorting facility and ultimately to the recycling center, where material is processed to create post-consumer recycled plastic that can be made into new products.

SFC Markets and Finance: Many consumer brands currently face cost and technical barriers in their transition. How does Dow help these customers take the first step toward sustainable packaging without sacrificing commercial value? 

Bambang Candra: Dow enables customers to start their sustainable journey where they are today, with solutions that are practical, scalable, and business-ready. So sustainability becomes a value creator, not a compromise. There are some key ways that we are working with customers, a cost-conscious pathway by leveraging global scale, feedstock flexibility, and portfolio breadth that Dow helps customers optimize cost performance straight off, enabling incremental progress that aligns with commercial reliability.

Scalable solution like what we are announcing this week with over 60 plus solution over circularity and renewable polymers, including mechanical recycling, advanced recycling, and also bio-based materials that are designed to work the existing manufacturing and packaging system. This enables brands to move towards retooling assets or disrupting supply chains.

In Dow, we work closely with brand owners, converters and recyclers to redesign packaging for recyclability, down-gauging it or material reduction over unlocking sustainability gains with minimal cost impact. The credibility and variability claim that Dow is support customer with certification, life cycle insight, and transparent accounting, helping them to make progress that stands up to regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder escalation and consumer experience. They focus on materials that means the strength, protection, shelf-life, and aesthetics, helping brands meet sustainability goals without sacrificing product performance or consumer experience.

Chief Producer: Zhao Haijian

Supervising Producer: Shi Shi

Editor: Li Yinong，Li Yingliang 

Reporter: Lu Taoran, Li Deshangyu

Video Editor: Cai Yutian 

New Media Coordination: Ding Qingyun, Zeng Tingfang, Lai Xi, Huang Daxun

Overseas Operations Supervising Producer: Huang Yanshu 

Overseas Content Coordinator: Huang Zihao

Overseas Operations Editors: Zhuang Huan, Wu Wanjie, Long Lihua, Zheng Quanyi 

Produced by: Southern Finance Omnimedia Group