Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem?

Plastics recycling is failing, and the plastics industry is betting big on a technology called chemical recycling to save it. This tech can supposedly convert any type of used plastic into plastic that's as good as new. But skepticism abounds.

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Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem?

[MichaelSmith-fjdi]

We need to reduce and reuse first. Yes, recycle, but reduce and reuse first. There's a reason why recycling comes last.

[ktaragorn]

I feel like recycling gives people a feel good reason to keep consuming plastic. The best way to deal with the plastic water bottle is to not use em.

[ninjanerdstudent]

Tax breaks for using recycled plastics will get businesses on board. Businesses hate taxes.

[michaels]

Imagine a future where mining for plastic from buried landfills is a thing.

[pasticcinideliziosi]

Here in Veneto, Italy, we recycle every thing in houses, from paper and glass to plastics, even if the biggest part of the industries don’t recycle anything.

[Sylvan_dB]

I seem to have missed how you answered the hard questions: How do you deal with plastic contaminated with food or other waste? How do you separate the different types of plastic or deal with cross contamination?

[islamkhalil]

The guy in the video said it perfectly. We’re trying to solve the problem downstream. We should be fixing the problem from the source.

[bweber]

It's really quite simple. Make plastics a higher taxed product whether it's produced in locally or imported. Take those taxes and use those same taxes as a kickback for recycling companies so that those companies can see a profit from their products. We tax literally EVERYTHING else, why not?

[ed-edd-n-eddy]

I am in favor of taxing plastics more.

[ShutThePuck]

If governments really cared, they'd just outlaw plastics and force change. Businesses will always look to cut costs so that they can be more competitive, so you're not going to get them to change their ways voluntarily - that would be suicide for most companies.

[williamkreth]

Why can't we be like Germany & Mexico and reuse glass bottles for beverages?

[ManOfSteel]

Now a days amazon ships more plastic or styrofoam than the product volume itself. This is a concern in itself. Whenever we order online we are creating more waste.

[Xclann]

11:40 I agree that the main approach should be to impose a fee on producers of virgin plastics... spending all this money on trying to prop up recycling industry itself is not very efficient; producers must contribute to the waste they are causing.

[millardiii]

The problem with stressing recycling as policy is that it places the responsibility for the excessive consumption on the consumer instead of on the producer. The classic example is CD packaging. The producer can make a huge package that makes no sense to anyone but themselves, then say that the consumer is evil because they did not recycle it. A more appropriate package from the producer is the only valid answer.
Recycling implies that the end product is similar to (dare I say equal to) the original product (example an aluminum, a can becomes a new can). Most recycled plastic today is used as an industrial filler. Depending on what it is used to fill, this can be labeled as de-centralized dumping rather than recycling (example: using ground plastic as a filler in drywall - yes they do this).
Chemical recycling is really the only real recycling for plastic. Plastics are wonderful because they have extremely long polymer chains that make them very strong. When the the plastic is recycled, the first step is grinding which shortens the polymer chains. if it is not re-polymerized then the resulting product is inferior product compared to the original source. The polymer chains are shorter and the product is weak. Chemical recycling is re polymerization. The problem is that historically re-polymerization has used enormous quantities of vary dangerous industrial solvents (primarily Xylene). This makes it extremely unfriendly to the environment.
Reduction of the consumption of plastics is the only solution and most modern recycling of plastics is really not recycling, it is decentralized dumping. It is a crutch and a very poor one at that.

I fear what the trolls are going to do to his post.

[nebuloushammer]

Plastic for certain applications is fine, but I think for single use food containers, we need to subsidize glass, aluminum, and paper.

[richdobbs]

From a free market point of view, the problem seems like recycled plastics don't get the credit they warrant for reducing littering and water pollution. On at least a statistical basis, it would be possible to link back the litter to the producers. If the producers were charged based on there contribution to the problem, then the free market could address the problem via deposits, subsidizes for collection, or other means.

[charles_cody]

Love when a dirty technology calls for the free market to be the decision makers. As if. Less plastic? Fantastic.

[dankdweb]

The environmental cost of plastic needs to be included in the cost of production, otherwise plastic companies will continue churning out plastics at a destructive rate with no cost to themselves. Legislation that taxes producers proportionally to the environmental harm they cause is a great solution. "Open market competition" will just result in companies continuing to push these costs onto future generations by not taking responsibility for the damage they are causing.

[CurveTheRain]

Separate lids and remove labels. Rinse your bottles, bin when dry. Do what you can on your part!

[francescapowell]

I put loads of packaging in recycling ... yet I know for a fact that most of it doesn’t even make it to the factory for recycling.

They need to bring back glass bottles and making these things reusable as much as possible.