Materials News
Advancing recycling to tackle plastic circularity The uptake of chemical recycling is on the rise since it offers an increased recycling rate, and higher value product output, says Angelica Buan in this report.
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he amount 300 million tonnes isn't just a number; it's the amount of plastic waste produced annually around the world. To make matters worse, the amount of waste generated is expected to increase by 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050, a consequence of growing urbanisation, population, and economies. What will happen to this waste is now up to us. Regardless of whether the recycling infrastructure has improved or expanded, research still finds that only about 20% of waste is recycled each year, with vast amounts still being dumped in landfills. Finding a long-term, sustainable solution to waste plastic has been elusive for a long time. The proliferation of green initiatives has, in many cases, failed to deliver the promised targets, while conventional recycling and reuse strategies have not been able to recover the material value of plastic waste. Now, the notion of plastic circularity has been provided with some sort of a solution whereby using effective recycling processes, the recovery of high-value products, such as oil, gas, and chemicals, is a possibility.
Chemical recycling, also known as advanced recycling, has been compared to mechanical recycling, and which WoodMac says is the best option to recover value from end-of-life plastic by converting it into other usable, even food-grade applications. Pyrolysis is a chemical recycling process that breaks down longer chain polymers into shorter chain materials by heating plastic waste without oxygen. These products can then be processed further into chemicals or fuels. Pyrolysis can recycle low-quality plastic waste that cannot be recycled using traditional mechanical recycling methods. Additionally, pyrolysis does not degrade the final plastic's quality and requires less intensive waste sorting. Hence, chemical recycling’s ability to increase recycling rates is sufficient justification for its implementation in order to promote sustainability.
Partnerships on chemical recycling A c c o r d i n g t o a r e p o rt b y Wo o d M a c K e n z i e , t h e sustainability of the plastic value chain is dependent on how the sector manages plastic waste. It recommends boosting investments in chemical recycling, as doing so might raise recycling rates by 50% by 2040.
Neste and Ravago are establishing a chemical recycling facility in Vlissingen, North Port
Only about 20% of waste is recycled each year, with vast amounts still being dumped in landfills, according to studies
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DECEMBER 2021
Thus, a number of tie-ups have been seen, with two leading European companies, Neste and Ravago, joining forces to focus on chemical recycling. The partners stated that their goal is to increase global processing capacity and catapult the joint venture into a global leader in chemical recycling of mixed plastic wastes. The joint venture between Neste, a Finnish renewable oil refining company, and Ravago, a Belgian plastics producer, will establish a chemical recycling facility, with a processing capacity of about 55,000 tonnes/year of mixed plastic waste, and intended to be the starting point of joint global chemical recycling activities, in
