The extremely rapid growth of plastic production, combined with the current shortcomings of mechanical recycling and the recent breakdown of global export markets, have left many local and national governments desperate to contain the problem of post-consumer plastic waste. In response, there has been a rapid rise in proposed technologies which are claimed to effectively and sustainably convert waste plastic into either fuel or petrochemical precursors.
This report reveals that chemical recycling is polluting, energy intensive, and has a track record of technical failures, and concludes that it is impossible for chemical recycling to be a viable solution in the short window of time left to solve the plastic problem, especially at the scale needed.
To address the problem, this report considers the following questions with regard to chemical recycling of plastic:
- What are these technologies and how do they compare with other methods for treating plastic waste?
- What are the environmental implications?
- Are they sustainable?
- Is the technology mature or likely to be so in the next ten years?