Recycling Lies: “Chemical Recycling” Of Plastic Is Just Greenwashing Incineration | NRDC Issue Brief
February 2022 | NRDC
Plastic waste is everywhere in the modern world. An estimated 242 million metric tons of it is generated globally every year, polluting our cities and clogging the oceans, and the United States is one of the top generators. However, America recycles only about 8.7 percent of its plastic waste. This small percentage is recycled by mechanical means: sorted by type, cleaned, shredded, and then processed into plastic pellets used to generate new products. The other 90 percent or so is incinerated or landfilled or ends up in the environment.
As public concern grows about mountains of plastic trash, the plastics industry is promoting technologies that it misleadingly calls “chemical recycling” (also known as advanced recycling, molecular recycling, and chemical conversion) and touts as a solution to the plastic crisis. But it is a false solution.
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