Chemicals | Plastics | Recycling ·
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We fully recognize that our current recycling system is limited and cannot scale up to manage our plastics problem—simply put, we cannot recycle our way out of our plastics problem. Yet recycling does have an important role to play. Recycling plastics, as with other materials, must be seen not as the end goal, but as a bridge strategy to a truly circular economy, and we must continue to push beyond recycling as an interim step and continue toward a more sustainable and just system.
Mechanical recycling in the U.S. has failed to significantly stem the tide of plastic waste. New solutions are needed to both reduce plastic production and increase plastics recycling, and there is substantial room for new technologies to improve our current system.
Chemical recycling has been praised as a promising solution to scale up plastics recycling. AMBR has issued a position paper outlining our perspective on what it would take for chemical recycling technology to have a legitimate role in the circular economy. To do so, we started by defining the main role of plastics recycling as part of a systemic approach to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to keep carbon in the ground. Both chemical recycling and mechanical recycling must be examined through this goal to reduce fossil fuel consumption, not just to better manage plastic waste.
The report finds that plastics-to-plastics (P2P) technologies are the only promising solutions that serve our goals of transitioning to a circular economy, but these technologies should be considered viable if the project has a solid business plan to overcome the economic challenges currently facing the plastics recycling industry, a viable collection strategy to ensure a clean and sufficient supply of materials, and a transparent environmental and human health review process.
Our main findings of the report are:
- Reduce first. Efforts to reduce our consumption of plastic must take precedence over efforts to improve recycling. AMBR opposes the use of chemical recycling for any material that has been identified by prominent organizations as an “unnecessary or avoidable” plastic and/or has a viable waste reduction alternative, including materials such as single-use plastic bags and utensils.
- No plastics to fuel. There is no role for plastics-to-fuel (P2F) in a circular economy and plastics to fuel should not be considered recycling.
- Stop using chemical recycling, or advanced recycling, as a blanket term. There needs to be made a clear distinction between plastics-to-plastics (P2P) and plastics-to-fuel (P2F) chemical recycling technologies. These technologies should be called by their type and include information about their feedstocks so that individual projects can be assessed independently on their own merits.
- Systemic changes are needed if new technologies are to be effective and safe. Plastic to plastic (P2P) chemical recycling technologies such as purification and depolymerization have the potential to improve plastics recycling and help to increase the production and quality of post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin, but only if we simultaneously invest in transforming our entire system of plastics production and recycling, including:
- robust collection systems and policies for waste plastics;
- a fundamental shift in the economics of recycling, and reduction in subsidies for virgin fossil fuel extraction;
- intentional and coordinated collaboration throughout the life cycle of plastic products, including design, use, recovery, and remanufacturing; and
- transparent environmental and social safeguards to reduce pollution and health risks from petrochemical production, chemical recycling, and any resulting waste byproducts.
- Chemical recycling may be a barrier to better solutions. Alternative investments of comparable size and timeframe could also help advance the circular economy, particularly those in:
- Avoiding and reducing the use of plastics through policies and investments in reuse and refill infrastructure to reduce single-use plastic packaging.
- Policies, economic subsidies, funding and collections systems to maximize our investments in our current recycling system.
- Fully bio-based and compostable polymers to replace petrochemical feedstocks and the expansion of composting infrastructure to manage these materials.