Circular Economy of Plastics: Wishful Thinking or A Way Forward?

Abstract

Plastic recycling, as it is today, is a losing battle against chaos and dysfunction of our modern-day consumption-driven lifestyle. In this paper, we will discuss some of the main challenges involved in traditional plastic recycling based on mechanical methods. We will present our findings why we are unable to truly reach the goals of circular economy highlighting various reasons for poor plastic recycling rates using present mainstream methods. We aim to share our learnings about chemical recycling of plastics that can transform traditional wishful-thinking scenario into a way forward. Areas of ongoing investigations are briefly highlighted that can open new opportunities for techno-economic and regulatory research and development to recover original polymers, basic monomers, and other value-added products from plastic waste.