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 36
The Urgency of Now: Advocating for Plastics Recycling & Sustainability
Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers® at the American Chemistry CouncilIn this episode of Sustainably Speaking, Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers® at the American Chemistry Council, discusses his journey in advocating for sustainable solutions, current priorities, and policy implementation challenges.
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Episode 35
Energy Efficient Building Innovations
Heidi Kujawa, CEO, ByFusion and Jordan Goldman, Engineering Principal, ZeroEnergy Design"We've developed a solution that takes landfill or ocean bound plastic and tried to convert it into something that is usable to help solve for some of the challenges that we're seeing in the construction industry."
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Episode 34
Will Americans Embrace the Next Era of Recycling?
Cornell Belcher, President and Founder, Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies, Brenda Gianiny, President and Founder, Axis Research, and Susan Jackson, Head of Communications & Sustainability for Performance Materials North America, BASF Corporation“I started off where the vast majority of Americans start off, with not a lot of background or information about what advanced recycling means. But once I heard more about it, and I understood it more, I was like, wait a minute, this is fantastic. I'm absolutely all in for this. Which, is same thing that happened to the voters and consumers in our poll.”
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Episode 33
Slam Dunk! Atlanta Hawks x Sustainability
Sofi Armenakian, Head of Sustainability, Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena"Every decision matters, right. And being a part of an organization where in 2022, we had 1.5 million fans coming into our venue, whether that's for a Hawks game or to come see your favorite artist perform, there is an opportunity to make an impact."
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Episode 31
The Road to Sustainable Infrastructure
Bill Buttlar, Glen Barton Chair in Flexible Pavement Technology, University of Missouri Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering“We're a few years into this research, and it's really checking all the boxes at this point. We're finding that it's making the mix more durable, obviously more sustainable, and we're finding formulations that are reducing the cost. And that's the trifecta. If you can get the economics and the durability and the sustainability all going in the right direction, it's almost like why wouldn't we do this?”