The Dow Chemical Company is committing nearly $3 million toward recycling education and outreach programs as well as research into plastics recycling technology. The $2.8 million pledge over the next two years was announced at the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C. Half of the money will be used in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy to research waste management pilot programs and fund educational programs that promote recycling. The other half of the money will go toward researching technologies for plastics recycling. That includes ways to increase the recyclability of flexible packaging, which is a major product line for Dow. Another research area Dow will help fund is how to turn non-recycled plastics into feedstock for new materials. Dow makes thousands of products for a wide variety of industries, including food and beverage packaging.