As of 2024, despite growth in overall plastic recycling rates, over 70% of European plastic waste is either incinerated or sent to landfill. In the US, that figure is closer to 90%.
Both the US and EU authorities have championed chemical recycling – also called advanced recycling – as a possible way to deal with hard-to-recycle materials like soft plastic films and mixed-material packaging, which are difficult to recycle mechanically. But while these processes are technically feasible, they are still in their infancy in terms of scaling – chemically recycled materials made up less than 1% of all recycled plastics production in Europe in 2024.
Chemical recycling takes plastic waste and breaks it down into something that can be used to make new polymers. In many cases that involves pyrolysis – heating in the absence of oxygen – and yields an oily mixture of hydrocarbons that can either be processed itself or fed into petroleum refinery infrastructure alongside fossil materials to make new polymer feedstocks. Other approaches look to more directly depolymerise materials into monomers that can feed directly back into polymer production.
But of the handfuls of plants that have made it to even small-scale production in the EU, many are struggling for economic viability, with several closing in recent months. In the US, two plants have been closed by authorities after running into problems around air pollution and handling of hazardous wastes.
Environmental campaign groups argue that – far from being a solution to the problem of hard-to-recycle plastic waste – chemical recycling is being advanced by major plastics manufacturers as a way to avoid political interventions that would force them to reduce plastic production overall.
In Europe, there are plastic waste regulations on the horizon that aim to promote recycling, as well as encouraging producers to change the way they use materials to make products easier to recycle – either mechanically or chemically. Having fewer mixed materials and additives that complicate processing, for example. But delays and uncertainty around these regulations mean that for some companies the benefits will not arrive soon enough. Without a clear regulatory framework, producers are hesitant to invest the capital required to build and run the plants. And since customers looking to buy polymer materials often want to lock in supplies for multiple years, they are also cautious of being caught out and paying hefty premiums for recycled materials.
So the question remains – what role does chemical recycling have in the future of plastics? Can it, with support, live up to its promise of tackling tricky waste materials? And if not, what are the alternative solutions?
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