Several companies are developing ways to chemically break down plastic. If they get it right, it could make it possible for all plastics to be used and reused in an infinitely recyclable loop. “The advantage with chemical recycling is you end up with a pure liquid monomer, which can be put directly back into the production process,” Andreas Anker, a spokesman for LyondellBasell Industries NV, tells Bloomberg Environment. LyondellBasell, one of the largest producers of plastic in the world, recently announced a joint venture aimed at developing chemical recycling at an industrial scale.
While chemical recycling of plastics is still at least several years out, Anker says the technology behind the process already exists and is increasingly viewed as the best way to close the loop on plastic supply chains. “Here in Europe, the issue of plastic recycling has become very important, very quickly,” said Anker, who lives in Germany. “You can see the demand coming from governments, as well as large brand owners and from society in general.
Since plastic doesn’t biodegrade, developing new ways to break it down has been a goal of companies and recycling advocates for decades. Such a technology would dramatically cut the need for new plastic made largely from petroleum and vastly improve the life cycle of plastics. “This works well, but to recycle PET to make new food and drink packaging—so-called food-grade PET—you can only use existing food-grade plastic,” said Maria Luisa Polli, technical director of Coca-Cola Central and Eastern Europe. In a company publication, Polli said that only 20 percent of all PET is currently recycled, creating a limited supply of good quality, food-grade PET on the market. But by using a chemical decomposition method, any waste plastic could be used to make food-grade PET. “Not just used plastic bottles, but also waste recovered from oceans and plastic from other sources, like polyester textiles. Ultimately, if all plastic can be recycled, then waste plastic could potentially become a thing of the past,” said Polli.
The issue of plastic waste isn’t just a problem for food and drinks manufacturers. Plastic is also used in some clothing, and the Council for Textile Recycling estimates that the average U.S. citizen throws away over 80 pounds of clothing each year. “We need to use resources more efficiently in order to decrease our environmental impact,” said Mattias Bodin, a sustainability business expert for the H&M Group, a Swedish clothing retailer. Of PET produced each year, the majority goes to make synthetic fibers, such as polyester, according to the PET Resin Association. In a statement provided to Bloomberg Environment, Bodin said the company has recycled the equivalent of 89 million T-shirts through an in-store drop off program, but chemical recycling would be the biggest game changer for the fashion industry.“We consider chemical recycling to be of utmost importance for us to be able to achieve our 2030 goal of using only recycled or other sustainably-sourced materials,” he said. “We also know that it makes very good business sense. It’s the only way forward.”
Read the full story at https://www.bna.com/chemical-recycling-help-n73014481641/.