Fifty years: chemical recycling’s fading promise

With the final round of negotiations of the Global Plastics Treaty approaching, this industry landscape overview analyses the dynamic around chemical recycling/recovery over recent years in Europe.

Among the overview takeaways is the industry’s acknowledgement that pyrolysis is not ready to help tackle plastic waste and the climate crisis. In fact, it will need fifty additional years to be implemented at a large scale.

In light of this overview, Zero Waste Europe recommends bringing the plastic sector in line with the Paris Agreement by reducing the production of virgin plastic, stopping funding for pyrolysis and gasification facilities, and that methodologies for determining recycled content in plastics follow rigorous transparency and reliable claims.

Available in English.

Executive Summary available in Hungarian, and Croatian.