Enterprise Explains: Chemical Recycling. Plastics recycling is a complex and energy intensive task that poses limitations no matter how you go about it. Besides the huge challenge of building a waste management system capable of collecting and sorting through the growing volume of plastic waste that’s produced every day, there’s the question of how to safely and efficiently repurpose a material that has been designed to be difficult to break down. One method that has gained traction in recent years is chemical recycling. Proponents of this process tout its ability to infinitely recycle plastic waste into fuel — but environmental advocacy groups warn of damaging consequences. So what exactly is chemical recycling?

First, a refresher on traditional recycling: Most countries with strong recycling infrastructure rely on a process called mechanical recycling, where facilities sort, shred and melt discarded plastics into polymers. These large molecules are the building blocks of plastic products, and can be used to produce new plastic forms.

We’re using more plastic all the time: Plastic waste generation more than doubled globally between 2000 and 2019 to reach 353 mn tons — 40% of which comes from packaging, 12% from consumer goods, and 11% from clothing and textiles, according to an OECD report. While still markedly lower than consumption in advanced economies, the growth in global plastic waste volume has been driven by demand from emerging markets.

And recycling isn’t keeping pace: Only some 9% of plastic is recycled worldwide, while the rest is either sent to landfill (49%), incinerated (19%), or either burned or dumped uncontrolled into the environment (22%), according to the OECD. In the Middle East and North Africa, only 5% of plastic is recycled while 40% is mismanaged or entirely uncollected.

Mechanical recycling is notoriously costly and time consuming. Mechanical recycling requires very careful washing and sorting of waste to separate plastics that are actually recyclable from those that aren’t (watch, runtime 13:35). The plastics that can be recycled — like polyethylene terephthalates (PETs) and high density polyethylenes (HDPEs), which are used to make soft drinks bottles, and low density polyethylenes (LDPEs), from which some plastic bags are made — also need to be painstakingly separated from each other to avoid contamination. Another significant challenge is that the quality of plastic polymers is degraded every time they cycle through this process, meaning that they have a limited lifetime before they eventually become unfit for further recycling and end up in landfill.

Chemical recycling addresses some of these issues: One of the upsides proponents of chemical recycling often point to is the supposedly infinite system it creates, whereby plastics can continuously be recycled without seeing their quality compromised. Chemical recycling could also allow for the processing of a much wider range of plastic refuse.

So how does it work exactly? Broadly speaking, chemical recycling uses either heat or chemical solvents to turn plastic into monomers — the most basic form of plastic material — or oil fuel. One way of doing this is through pyrolysis, where plastics are melted, turned into gas, and then cooled. The product of this process are simple hydrocarbons that can be used to make new, virgin-quality plastics or oil fuels.

Chemical recycling facilities are cropping up all over advanced economies: Chemical recycling is beginning to take off in rich countries, partly catalyzed by a move from China — which was once the world’s largest importer of waste — to stop importing plastic back in 2018. In the UK, companies like Mura Technology plan on using hydrothermal processes to recycle the plastics that mechanical facilities have not typically been able to process. British chemicals company Ineos uses chemical recyclingto make products including a 60% recycled polyethylene compound that can be formed intoshrink film.

Chemical recycling could soon be hitting our shores: US-based multinational Honeywelllast year signed an MoU with Egypt’s Environ Adapt — the waste treatment arm of Intro Sustainable Resources Holding — to potentially set up a first-of-its-kind chemical recycling facility. Environ is still expected to run a feasibility study to examine market trends, feedstock availability, the specs for the proposed plant, project schedule, and financial modeling before moving forward.

But there are some serious safety concerns: Environmental groups have been sounding the alarm on the dangers of chemical recycling, claiming that these facilities emit toxic and potentially cancerous pollution into the air. Groups including the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a US-based environmental organization, say toxic chemicals like benzene, mercury and arsenic that are released during pyrolysis need stricter regulation.

And the process is far from carbon neutral: In addition to concerns about water and air pollution, chemical recycling facilities are energy intensive, environmentally damaging, and not sufficiently proven to work outside of laboratory trials, some attest. In one study cited in a Reuters investigation, pyrolysis was found to be worse in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions output than throwing plastic into landfills or burning plastic in cement kilns. A separate study commissioned by the US Energy Department found that chemical recycling could be between 10 – 100 times worse for the environment than manufacturing new plastic, thanks to low yields and high energy requirements.

Some say the business case is flawed: Advanced recycling companies like Dow Chemicals have struggled with expenses associated with collecting, cleaning and recycling plastic, causing four high-profile projects to be delayed or canceled, Reuters reports. A Thermoselect facility in Germany lost more than USD 500 mn over a five-year period, while the UK’s Interserve lost USD 100 mn, and other projects faced bankruptcy.

And chemical recycling could stall efforts to cut down on plastics and hydrocarbons: Chemical recycling represents “a dangerous distraction from the need for governments to ban single use and unnecessary plastics, while simultaneously locking society into a ‘business as usual’ future of more oil and gas consumption,” reads a damning report (pdf) by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).

Your top green economy stories for the week:

  • Egypt could soon become Africa’s biggest wind generator, dethroning South Africa from the top spot as the continent’s largest wind generator by 2030.
  • The two-day Copenhagen Climate Ministerialkicked offyesterday, with participation from our Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
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