Alexei Volkov
Plastic is everywhere, and it's shocking how much we're all paying for it. Humans have created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic to date, and it's causing significant environmental damage. Plastic recycling is the process of turning plastic waste into other products, and it can help reduce landfill waste, conserve resources, and protect the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the reality is that most plastic doesn't get recycled, and even recycled plastic can release microplastics into wastewater. So, what's the solution? Well, recycling rates are low, but they exist, and incredible products come from this process. The majority of recycled plastic comes from post-consumer sources, like milk jugs, bottles, and packaging films that you throw away in the recycling bin. This plastic is then sorted, washed, shredded, melted, and formed into new products like fashion items or even construction materials.
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What You'll Learn
Recycling rates and challenges
Plastic recycling is the processing of plastic waste into other products. It can reduce dependence on landfills, conserve resources, and protect the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. However, recycling rates for plastic lag behind those of other recoverable materials, such as aluminium, glass, and paper. From the start of plastic production up to 2015, only 9% of the world's 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic waste had been recycled, with only ~1% recycled more than once. The remaining waste is mostly sent to landfills or incinerated, contributing to environmental pollution.
One challenge to plastic recycling is the complexity and cost of the process. Mechanical recycling, which involves melting and reforming plastic, requires sorting waste by colour and polymer type, which is often complicated and expensive. Errors can lead to material degradation and inconsistent properties, making it unappealing to industry. Feedstock recycling, which converts waste plastic into its starting chemicals, carries higher energy and capital costs.
The plastic recycling system also faces economic and technical challenges. Plastic is cheap to produce and profitable, but it is expensive to collect and sort for recycling. The variety of plastic types means they cannot be melted down together, and no plastic meets the threshold to be considered "recyclable" by standards set by initiatives like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastic Economy Initiative. This has resulted in instances where plastic placed in recycling bins is ultimately treated as general waste.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated the inefficiencies in the plastic recycling system, threatening society's commitment to transitioning to a sustainable plastics economy. The industry's plans to triple plastic production by 2050, coupled with the challenges of recycling, underscore the urgency of implementing a sustainable plastics system. This requires a comprehensive approach that addresses the complex, interconnected nature of the plastic system and its various stakeholders.
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Mechanical recycling
One of the critical steps in mechanical recycling is sorting the plastic waste. This can be done by colour or thickness, and it is often a complicated and expensive process. Errors in sorting can lead to inconsistencies in the recycled material's properties, making it less appealing to industries. Additionally, mechanical recycling can cause polymer degradation at the molecular level, which further affects the quality of the recycled product.
To address these challenges, companies like BASF develop additive solutions to enhance the material properties of recycled plastics. These additives can restore the quality and performance of recycled materials to levels comparable to virgin plastic. This improvement in quality encourages the plastics industry to increase the circularity of plastics, promoting a more sustainable approach.
The mechanical recycling process also includes washing the plastics to remove dust, dirt, food traces, drink residues, and labels. After washing, the plastics are shredded into smaller pieces to facilitate their reuse. Finally, the plastic flakes are converted into homogeneous pellets that can be used to manufacture new products. This process allows for the creation of unique and environmentally friendly products, such as tiles made from recycled PVC building materials or electronic devices incorporating recycled plastic and glass.
Overall, mechanical recycling plays a vital role in reducing our dependence on landfills, conserving resources, and protecting the environment from plastic pollution. By implementing this process, we can give plastic waste a new lease of life and contribute to a more sustainable future.
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Feedstock recycling
The process of feedstock recycling involves converting waste plastic or polymer into its starting chemicals or original monomers. This can be done through various techniques such as chemolysis, pyrolysis, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrogen techniques, gasification, and depolymerisation. These techniques enable the breakdown of plastic waste into molecular building blocks, allowing for true circularity in the recycling process and a wider range of potential feedstocks.
One of the key advantages of feedstock recycling is its ability to handle mixed or contaminated plastic waste streams. Unlike mechanical recycling, which requires sorting and separating different types of plastics, feedstock recycling can process a wide range of plastic inputs. This makes it a more flexible and inclusive method for managing plastic waste.
However, feedstock recycling also has its challenges. One of the main obstacles is the high capital intensity, with costs ranging from $1,500 to $4,000 per ton of annual capacity. This creates economic barriers and makes it difficult for the industry to scale rapidly. Additionally, feedstock quality and consistency are operational challenges, as contaminants can impact the performance and quality of the final product.
Despite these challenges, the advanced feedstock recycling market is experiencing significant growth. This growth is driven by increasing regulatory pressure, corporate sustainability commitments, and technological advancements. By 2030, it is estimated that the industry will process 20-25 million tons of plastic waste annually, representing approximately 5-7% of global plastic production.
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Plastic waste disposal methods
Plastic waste is a pressing environmental concern, with humans having created around 11 billion metric tons of plastic to date. The large-scale production of plastic, which began during World War II, has resulted in a massive consumption of plastic products and a subsequent surge in plastic waste. The improper disposal of plastics has led to adverse environmental impacts, including plastic pollution in oceans and waterways.
Recycling involves processing plastic waste into new products, reducing waste, CO2 emissions, and oil use. Mechanical recycling, the most common form, includes melting and reforming plastic, requiring sorting by colour and polymer type. However, this can lead to polymer degradation, and even the best filtration systems cannot prevent all microplastic release. Feedstock recycling, a more expensive method, converts waste plastic into its starting chemicals to create fresh plastic. Recycling is considered the best disposal method, but it is often underutilized due to poor collection, sorting, and economic challenges.
Incineration, or waste burning, is another widely used method, particularly in countries with landfill diversion policies. It offers energy recovery in the form of heat and requires minimal space. However, early incineration practices without advanced emission-control systems released harmful dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.
Landfills, the traditional disposal method, involve burying plastic waste underground. While landfills aim to provide a safer disposal area, they have significant drawbacks. They take up vast amounts of space, losing any potential reuse of plastics, and can lead to plastic leakage into oceans and waterways. Additionally, plastic decomposition in landfills is extremely slow, taking 50-600 years, rendering the land inaccessible for extended periods.
Other emerging plastic waste disposal methods include biodegradation, where microorganisms break down plastic into simpler substances, and the use of biodegradable plastics that compost with the help of living organisms. While these methods show potential, concerns exist about possible metal releases during the biodegradation process.
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Recycling plastic into fashion items
Plastic recycling is the process of converting plastic waste into other products. It can help reduce the world's dependence on landfills, conserve resources, and protect the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the recycling rates for plastic lag behind those of other materials such as aluminium, glass, and paper. The process of recycling plastic often involves melting and reforming it into new items, but this can cause polymer degradation at the molecular level.
The fashion industry has been criticised for its plastic addiction and contribution to environmental destruction. However, there is a growing trend of clothing companies, including big names like Adidas, H&M, and Patagonia, that are turning recycled plastic into fashion items. These companies are using recycled plastic water bottles to create clothing, such as yoga pants, jackets, and sneakers. This approach not only reduces the reliance on new plastic but also tackles existing plastic waste.
For example, Everlane's ReNew line uses recycled plastic water bottles that are sorted by color, stripped of their caps, sanitized, and then sent to a grinder to be pulverized into chips. These chips are then melted and spun into a fine yarn, which is sewn into clothes. Other companies like Reformation, Rothy's, and Timberland have also committed to using only recycled materials in their products.
By incorporating recycled plastic into their designs, these companies are not only reducing their environmental impact but also meeting the changing expectations of their customers, who are increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. In fact, 2 out of 3 people say they are willing to pay more for fashion brands that are less harmful to the environment.
While using recycled plastic in fashion is a positive step towards sustainability, it is important to consider the entire life cycle of the clothing produced. Additionally, the focus should be on reducing waste, reusing items, and adopting more sustainable practices across the value chain, rather than simply increasing consumption of "sustainable" products.
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Frequently asked questions
Plastic recycling is the process of turning plastic waste into other products. This can be done by melting and reforming the plastic or by converting it into its starting chemicals to make new plastic.
The plastic is collected from homes, businesses, and local recycling centres and sent to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) or a Plastic Recovery Facility (PRF) to be sorted. It is then washed, shredded, and sorted further before being sold to be used in new products.
The most widely recycled plastic in the world is PET, which is often used for plastic bottles. HDPE is also one of the easiest plastic polymers to recycle and is accepted at most recycling centres worldwide.
Plastic recycling can be expensive due to the high costs of building and operating recycling facilities, as well as the large quantities of plastic needed to make the process economical. Sorting plastic by colour and polymer type can also be complicated and costly, and errors can lead to material with inconsistent properties.
