Advanced recycling can help us recycle a lot more plastics
Here’s how we plan to do it
Today’s recycling systems can recover some used plastic. But not anywhere near enough.
That’s what makes burgeoning private investments in new recycling technologies so exciting.
These technologies can dramatically increase the types and amount of plastic that can be recycled.
Which reduces the need for fossil resources and keeps plastic out of landfills. And our environment.
It’s called advanced recycling.
These technologies turn used solid plastic into its gas or liquid raw materials to be remade into brand new plastic for use in virtually any plastic product or packaging.
More than 90% of plastics aren’t being recycled. America’s plastic makers are investing in new technologies to change that. Advanced recycling is a breakthrough for reclaiming used plastics.
Here are five things you need to know about advanced recycling. Many people in the industry use the term “advanced recycling.” It means taking plastics back to their molecular form so they can be reprocessed into new products. Every week you take your trash and put it out at the curb. Imagine if that litter were dollar bills — you’d pick it up. That’s what we’re doing. We’re creating value for something that has no value.
Not all used plastic can go through the mechanical recycling process. That’s what’s really exciting about advanced recycling — it allows you to address hard-to-recycle plastics that can’t be recycled today. Advanced recycling is going to help eliminate plastic waste that currently goes to landfills, so we can use fewer natural resources in our products.
In the next 10 years, advanced recycling will have a strong foothold in the industry. It’s clearly the future. If you want to make a real dent in plastic recycling, advanced recycling is one of the top ways to do it — along with having good infrastructure.
Learn more about new technologies changing how we recycle, reuse, and remake plastics.
The plastics recycling industry is investing billions of dollars in these technologies and has launched dozens of projects designed to divert millions of tons of used plastic per year from landfills.
Multiple large consumer product companies already create packaging using recycled plastics created by these technologies. And they are clamoring for more to meet sustainability goals.
Hundreds of companies have committed to make more of their packaging recyclable and to use more recycled content. For more info, visit U.S. Plastics Pact.
Advanced recycling can help these companies meet their sustainability goals.
Watch some of the people making sustainable change by helping bring advanced recycling technologies to life.
Meet Jeremy: The Disruptor
As President of Alterra, he’s deploying new technologies to recycle previously difficult-to-recycle plastic, again and again.
Meet Natalie: The Finder
Natalie specializes in finding used plastics to remake into new plastics, many of which had previously been difficult to recycle.
What’s needed to make plastic recycling work better? A team effort.
To recycle plastic, an interwoven chain of players must work in concert. The plastic recycling chain can be viewed as a virtuous circle, in which each player enables the next.
LEARN MORE About Advanced Recycling
Take a deeper dive and learn more about how advanced recycling can tackle the 90% of plastics that aren’t recycled today.
Fact Sheets
The following series illustrates how advanced recycling turns used plastic into new plastic and provides more information about the environmental profile of this new manufacturing technology.
Insights
Find out what’s happening in Advanced Recycling and how we’re making sustainable change.
Podcasts
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Episode 51
Restoring Historic Greenwood Cemetery
Boris Martin, CEO Engineers without Borders, Raphael Morris, President, Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association, and Shelly Morris, Secretary, Greenwood Cemetery Preservation AssociationA washed-out road. A forgotten cemetery. And a community working to preserve its history. In this episode of Sustainably Speaking, host Mia Quinn visits St. Louis to see how dedicated volunteers, thoughtful design, and recycled materials helped restore access to Greenwood Cemetery—one of the oldest African American burial grounds in the country. This episode highlights preserving history, honoring families, and building a more sustainable path forward.
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Episode 50
AI-Powered Recycling
Pieter Van Dijk, President, Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, Haley Lowry, Head of Sustainability, DOW, and Ambarish Mitra, Co-Founder, GreyparrotWhat if recycling plants facilities had better brains? In this episode, recorded live at SXSW, Mia Quinn sits down with leaders from Van Dyk Recycling Solutions, Dow, and Greyparrot to unpack how artificial intelligence is transforming the recycling industry. From sorting technology that sees what we humans miss to real-time data that powers better packaging design and policy, this is a conversation about what's working, what's broken—and what's next.
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Episode 49
Moonshot Madness and Smarter Textiles: Inside X, the Moonshot Factory
Rey Banatao and Peter Chauvel of Google X’s the Moonshot FactoryPart 2 of our interview with Rey Banatao and Peter Chauvel of Google X, the Moonshot Factory explores Moonshot thinking— from circular textiles and synthetic biology to bioplastics made from old clothes. They share their wildest Moonshot Madness ideas, why failure is a critical part of the process and what the future of smarter, sustainable materials could look like.
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Episode 48
How Google’s X, the Moonshot Factory is Rethinking Recycling
Rey Banatao and Peter Chauvel of Google X’s the Moonshot FactoryRecorded live at SXSW, this episode features Rey Banatao and Peter Chauvel of Google X’s the Moonshot Factory — two of the brightest minds on an ambitious effort to reinvent how we use materials. They walk us through how they’re using cutting edge tools like AI and molecular data to build better systems that keep materials in use and out of the landfill, what it takes to engineer real world change and how rethinking waste could unlock massive economic opportunity.
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Episode 47
The Future of Automotive Recycling
Rich JamesWhat if your next car could be made from your last one? Experts explain how automotive recycling is shaping the future of sustainable vehicle design.