Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastics: Bright Prospects Yet Less Than 1% Market Share – Industry Breakthrough Calls for Policy and Standards（1））
At present, the main recycling and utilization methods for waste plastics include mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, landfilling, and incineration. Globally, over 350 million tons of waste plastics are generated each year, of which less than 10% is recycled through mechanical means; the rest is either landfilled, incinerated, or even discarded. Chemical recycling of waste plastics can effectively recover waste plastics, enable upcycling, and promote the circular economy. However, currently, the proportion of waste plastics used for chemical recycling is less than 1% in total, and the waste plastic chemical recycling industry is still in the early stage of development.
From a global perspective on the development of the waste plastic chemical recycling industry, regions and countries such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, and South Korea are relatively advanced. A number of projects have been launched in these areas, with some operating stably for years. In recent years, certain countries and regions have rolled out relevant policies and standards to support the sustainable development of their local waste plastic chemical recycling industry.
Considering comprehensively the current policy landscape of China's waste plastic chemical recycling industry, the availability of low-value waste plastic resources, and the progress in industrialization of related projects, it is recommended that low-value waste plastics should be encouraged for use in chemical recycling. Meanwhile, efforts should be accelerated to formulate industry norms and product standards for the waste plastic chemical recycling industry with strict requirements, and a certification system based on the mass balance method should be established as soon as possible.
Current status of the global chemical recycling industry for waste plastics
Chemical recycling of waste plastics can handle low-value waste plastics that cannot be processed by physical recycling. It reduces the landfilling and incineration of waste plastics, thereby reducing "white pollution" and saving resources. Additionally, it can meet the market's demand for recycled plastics in both quantity and quality, turning waste plastics from "waste into treasure."
The development prospect of the waste plastic chemical recycling industry is promising.
Currently, a global consensus has been basically reached that physical recycling of waste plastics takes priority over chemical recycling, and chemical recycling takes priority over incineration for power generation. With the increasing global attention to "white pollution", the chemical recycling industry of waste plastics has a promising development prospect.
According to projections by Wood Mackenzie, a consulting firm, the amount of waste plastics used for chemical recycling will grow at an average annual rate of 14.8% from 2020 to 2040. By the end of 2040, chemical recycling is expected to recover 13 million tons of low-value waste plastics. Currently, most waste plastics are used for incineration to generate electricity, but this situation may change in the future. The European Union has decided to include municipal solid waste incineration facilities in the EU Emissions Trading System by the end of 2030 at the latest, imposing a carbon tax on the fossil fuel combustion part. Germany has taken the lead in levying a carbon emission tax on incineration facilities. Driven by these policies, incineration for power generation or heating is unlikely to be the development direction for the utilization of low-value waste plastics in the future.
The chemical recycling industry of waste plastics in developed countries is developing rapidly.
Overall, the global chemical recycling industry for waste plastics is still in the early stages of development. Various countries generally face issues such as the need to build and improve infrastructure for recycling low-value waste plastics, and the need for further clarification of policies. The chemical recycling industry for waste plastics in European and American countries and regions is developing relatively rapidly, while countries such as Japan, India, and South Korea are also actively developing and applying chemical recycling technologies for waste plastics. Currently, large petrochemical companies in Europe, America, and other regions are entering the field of chemical recycling of waste plastics. In addition to participating in the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), they are also collaborating with professional technology companies to research and develop related advanced pyrolysis oil processing technologies, or developing waste plastic treatment technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification, and depolymerization, and promoting the implementation of chemical recycling projects for waste plastics. Furthermore, some countries and regions are advancing the construction of waste plastic recycling infrastructure and the formulation of policy standards, and the global chemical recycling industry for waste plastics has a bright future.
Policy standards have a direct impact on the upstream and downstream of the waste plastic chemical recycling industry.
From the perspective of policy orientation, attitudes towards chemical recycling of waste plastics vary among countries and regions. These policies or standards mainly include:
(1) Mandatory or voluntary targets for the content of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics, as well as taxation measures derived from these targets. This measure indirectly promotes the development of chemical recycling of waste plastics by expanding the consumer market for products made from recycled materials. The impact of PCR targets is relatively extensive; currently, more than a dozen countries or regions around the world have formulated mandatory or voluntary targets for the PCR content in plastic packaging by the end of 2025.
(2) Policies that directly encourage or restrict the chemical recycling of waste plastics, which encourage or restrict projects related to the chemical recycling of waste plastics.
(3) Mandatory recycling targets for waste plastics: Mandatory recycling of waste plastics will increase the recycling volume of low-value waste plastics. Since physical recycling cannot effectively handle them, it will indirectly promote the development of the chemical recycling industry for waste plastics.
Major petrochemical companies are successively deploying in the field of chemical recycling of waste plastics.
From the perspective of technological research and development, chemical recycling technology for waste plastics involves sorting and preprocessing technologies, chemical treatment technologies for waste plastics, and deep processing technologies. Among these, the sorting technology suitable for low-value waste plastics still has significant issues, which affects the stable supply of low-value waste plastics and becomes a bottleneck in the industrial chain. Various technological processes for waste plastic treatment each have different application scenarios. Among them, pyrolysis technology is adopted by most petrochemical companies because it is suitable for addition polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which account for a relatively large proportion of low-value waste plastics, and the pyrolysis products can be further processed using existing petrochemical infrastructure to achieve chemical recycling. According to predictions from multiple industry institutions, the proportion of pyrolysis technology in waste plastic treatment will grow rapidly in the future.
From the perspective of technology developers, there are many developers of waste plastic treatment technologies, mainly small specialized companies, such as the UK's Plastic Energy, the UK's Mura, and Denmark's Quantafuel. In recent years, major global petrochemical companies have also entered the field of chemical recycling of waste plastics: Petrochemical production companies such as BASF, Total, and Shell mainly process by purchasing pyrolysis oil, and some companies have also developed deep processing technologies for pyrolysis oil. Companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron have also developed their own chemical recycling processes for waste plastics; Petrochemical technology development companies such as Axens and Haldor Topsoe have developed waste plastic pyrolysis or deep processing technologies for pyrolysis oil and formed their own technology brands.
