Let’s imagine a future where plastic pollution is just a gloomy memory from the past! – The advanced recycling technologies, as well as the now complete and truly circular plastic management based on this, promise just that.
Advanced recycling technologies promise nothing less than the solution to the global plastic waste crisis. The essence of the method is the fulfillment of the old dream of plastic recycling: all types of used plastics are transformed into new materials. The consequences may not even need to be detailed, but briefly we can talk about the revolutionization of waste management and the curbing of climate change – which can finally be realized with the help of creating a real circular economy in relation to plastic production. New Scientist wrote a longer article about all of this, the content of which we summarize below.
Determining the recyclability of plastic items is a difficult process, as it takes a lot of time to separate recyclable and non-recyclable plastics. However, all this effort is in vain: a significant part of the plastic waste is burned, it may end up in a landfill, and thus ultimately contributes to both environmental pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases. The matter is such a problem that, according to many, although it is not an ideal solution, burning plastic waste is still the lesser evil, since the other option is that it ends up in our food as microplastic, so we end up eating it.
The statistics on plastic waste are quite shocking: of the more than 10 billion tons of plastic produced since the 1950s, more than 8 billion tons ended up as waste. Meanwhile, according to Roland Geyer, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, only 6% of plastics are recycled, and most end up in landfills. The treatment of plastic waste is thus far from effective in many ways.
Advanced recycling technologies, on the other hand, would solve this significant problem (also one of the most significant globally) by converting plastic waste into clean, reusable plastic using chemical processes. And this is not only important because of the treatment of garbage, but such technology can also drastically reduce the dependence on new plastics made from petroleum.
However, how realistic is it to pursue such technologies? Two such promising and advanced technologies, pyrolysis and gasification, for example, already exist – they both work very similarly in principle: with the help of these processes, we are able to break down plastics into their molecular components without the presence of oxygen (or with the use of little oxygen), which enables valuable by-products , such as the production of syngas and monomers.
During pyrolysis, plastics are heated at a high temperature in an oxygen-free environment, as a result of which the giant molecular chains of the plastic disintegrate, i.e. the long molecules break down into smaller parts. During the process, different types of oil, gas and carbon residues are produced, which can be used in various industries – for example, the resulting syngas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) can be used as fuel or as a raw material for other chemical processes.
Gasification is similar to pyrolysis, but even higher temperatures are used, and often a small amount of oxygen is introduced into the process, which helps the plastic completely convert to gas. This process breaks down the plastic even more efficiently and produces almost exclusively syngas with minimal residual solids.
In the light of the above, the advantages of these technologies do not need any particular explanation, but it is still worth highlighting that if waste plastic is restored to original materials with the help of these technologies, they can be reused indefinitely, while with traditional mechanical recycling methods, the quality of recycled plastic deteriorates significantly over time. Thus, mechanical recycling, while useful for certain types of plastics, often results in materials that are, for example, unsafe for the food industry and have only limited uses – such as upholstery or insulation.
Advanced recycling, on the other hand, results in materials that are indistinguishable from materials produced from virgin resources, so these materials can be recycled endlessly.
Europe is currently leading the way in this field, and more than 100 advanced recycling technologies have been developed and are currently in operation. And in the United States, companies have spent more than $7 billion on advanced recycling facilities since 2017.
The question is, of course, what is the problem with such a cheerful picture, why don’t we clap our hands together, that this problem is also put to rest and move on? The short answer is that, despite these developments, the technology is unfortunately not without its challenges. Advanced recycling processes still require significant energy input and can produce toxic by-products, requiring careful management and regulation. Not to mention that the actual capacity of these plants is still not enough to handle all the plastic waste.
Perhaps surprisingly, advanced recycling is also subject to a fair amount of criticism – many argue that it is not an actual solution, but rather a sound-sounding sham measure supported by the petrochemical industry in order to maintain the plastic manufacturing status quo. The critics thus advocate a much more radical approach – primarily the complete reduction of plastic use.
However, others believe that in addition to the fact that plastic use really needs to be reduced, plastic waste will inevitably be generated in the future, so these recycling technologies are essential.
Although the optimistic attitude towards the topic of plastic pollution is less typical, it can give some hope that the development of even more efficient technologies, such as solvolysis – in which different solvents are used to dissolve plastics and recover chemicals – will continue in the future. This procedure promises to further reduce the environmental impact.
