From Ukraine to Gaza
It is also, of course, the material most commonly used to package food. Anyone who has ever tried to reduce their plastic consumption will be acutely aware of this.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of plastic to our everyday lives. For instance, it insulates the electrical cables that power our homes and it houses the pipes that deliver our water.
The yearly production of plastic stands at more than 380 million tonnes globally. To put that into perspective, we’re talking about the same weight as 2,700,000 blue whales!
Of that huge amount, only 16% is recycled to make new plastics. Some 40% is sent to landfill, 25% is incinerated, and the other 16% is, to be frank about it, dumped.
There are lots of plastics that could perfectly well be recycled, but that end up in landfill either because of confusion about curbside recycling or contamination with food waste.
Increasing the recycling rate of these plastics has traditionally been a tricky endeavor. However, recent innovations in chemical recycling suggest we may be getting closer.
Chemical recycling involves turning plastic back into what it was made from: oil. It differs from traditional recycling, during which the plastic is always plastic, simply melted and remoulded.
It may be possible simply to increase the recycling rate of these plastics by educating people more thoroughly about exactly what can be recycled and what can’t.
However, there are also plastics that are simply more difficult to recycle in traditional recycling plants because they are made of composites that are difficult to break down.
When the plastic is melted, its tensile strength and viscosity decrease and it becomes harder to process. The majority of plastics can only be recycled a number of times in the traditional way.
The process of chemical recycling that is receiving the most attention is called “feedstock recycling,” and in general it is not so complicated.
Traditional recycling is sometimes described as a “downward spiral,” referring to the fact that every time the plastic is recycled, its quality is degraded.
Historically, chemical recycling has been unfeasible because of the amount of energy it requires. However, recent developments suggest we may be getting closer to a scalable solution.
Chemical recycling aims to combat this problem by breaking down plastics into their chemical building blocks and using those blocks to create fuels or new plastics.
Insofar as the plastic is picked up from the curbside, sorted at a facility, and then taken to a recycling plant, it is the same as traditional recycling.
From the recycling plant, however, the process of chemical recycling requires that the plastic be taken to a pyrolysis center to be melted down.
In a final step, that oil-like liquid is distilled into fractions that can be used for varying purposes.
Chemical recycling techniques are currently being trialled all over the world. In the UK, the company Recycling Technologies has developed a machine that can turn hard-to-recycle plastics into a liquid hydrocarbon feedstock that can be used to make virgin-quality plastic.
Of course, there are other companies in the mix. For example, Plastic Energy has developed a plant that can turn hard-to-recycle plastic waste into a feedstock that can be used to make food-grade plastics.
Recycling Technologies installed their first commercial-scale unit in Perth, Scotland in 2020.
In the UK, another company called Mura Technology has started to build a plant that will be able to recycle all kinds of plastic. This plant will be the very first of its kind.
It is then fed into a pyrolysis reactor and heated to extreme temperatures. This turns the plastic into a gas, which is then condensed into an oil-like liquid.
Plastic Energy already has two commercial-scale plants in Spain, and the company has plans to expand into France, the Netherlands, and the UK.
Others are more sceptical, however, and some have expressed concerns that the real focus should be on increasing resource efficiency rather than relying on recycling.
The Mura plant will be able to handle mixed plastic, colored plastic, plastic of all composites and stages of decay, and even plastic that is contaminated with waste.
Scientist Sharon George, who is a senior lecturer in environmental science at Keele University, has described it as “true circular recycling.”
Whether chemical recycling is the right way forward or not, no one can deny that it is an exciting prospect that may help us solve the seemingly never-ending problem of plastic waste.
Sources: (BBC)
See also: Can underwater farms save the world from climate change?
Plastic is great for its malleability and its durability, but it is notoriously difficult to recycle. In fact, only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled into new plastics.
When it comes to useful materials, there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Sure, rubber is great and wood isn’t bad either, but nothing trumps plastic!
The topic of plastic recycling is nothing new. For years now, we've been separating our plastics from our cardboard and putting them out for collection. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, much of the plastic we use will never be recycled. Sometimes it is just too contaminated, or we get confused about how to roadside recycle, but often a plastic's properties means that it is just overly complicated to recycle. Thanks to innovation in the field of chemical recycling, however, that may be about to change.
Check out this gallery to learn about the potential future of plastic recycling.
Rethinking plastic recycling
Can recycling put an end to the plastic crisis for good?
LIFESTYLE Environment
The topic of plastic recycling is nothing new. For years now, we've been separating our plastics from our cardboard and putting them out for collection. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, much of the plastic we use will never be recycled. Sometimes it is just too contaminated, or we get confused about how to roadside recycle, but often a plastic's properties means that it is just overly complicated to recycle. Thanks to innovation in the field of chemical recycling, however, that may be about to change.
Check out this gallery to learn about the potential future of plastic recycling.