The Role of Chemistry in Plastics Recycling

Plastics recycling has been enjoying a considerable boom since 2016. This has been driven, on one hand, by players such as the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation, which at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, drew attention to the inadequate collection and recycling of plastic waste and formulated a vision for a closed loop recycling economy for polymers and, on the other hand, by numerous alarming images of plastic waste in rivers, the oceans and on what were once idyllic beaches. The topicality of the issue is intensifying the challenges that the recycling industry has faced for decades, such as the completeness of collection, problem-oriented sorting, and the availability of large quantities of consistently high-quality recycled plastic products under high cost pressure. At the same time, however, it is also bringing change to the market. Recyclers have begun to recognize the need for highquality recycling and manufacturers are discovering the opportunities afforded by these secondary raw materials and the need for closed-loop-recycling management systems, while consumers are increasingly calling for sustainable products. It is just not clear yet who should bear the costs. Plastics recycling serves primarily to maintain the value of polymer materials already in the value chain. This lowers the high costs incurred in processing crude oil into basic chemicals and new polymers and, in the case of mechanical recycling, eliminates the energy-intensive polymerization process, thus saving substantial quantities of CO 2 equivalents. This is reflected in the hierarchy of waste-recycling processes, which places mechanical recycThe Role of Chemistry in Plastics Recycling