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 29
Sustainability Through an Economic Lens
Martin Ko ehring, Global Director of Impact at Forum for the Future; Former Head of World Ocean Initiative; and Senior Manager for Sustainability, Climate Change, and Natural Resources at Economist Impact and Stew Harris, Senior Director, Global Plastics Policy at American Chemistry Council“Those plastic specs we see in the ocean, those plastic bottles, they end up there because we haven't properly incentivized recycling, reuse. We haven't properly looked at design, for example, we haven't looked at the whole value chain of plastics and found ways to bring as much plastic back into the system as possible. And that has policy elements to it, but it also has design solutions in it and recycling technologies."
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Episode 27
Blocking and Tackling: Keys to Resiliency in Recycling
Stan Chen, CEO of RecycleGO and Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO of CirculorIn this episode on Blockchain, Stan Chen of RecycleGO and Douglas Johnson-Poensgen of Circulor share how blockchain can be used to trace, verify, and report sustainability efforts within the plastics recycling sector.
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Episode 25
Beneath the Surface: Solving Ocean Plastics
Doug Woodring, Director/Founder of Ocean Recovery AllianceIn this episode on ocean plastics, Doug Woodring of Ocean Recovery Alliance shares how corporations and activists can work together to recycle the plastics in our oceans, lakes, creeks, and rivers to make water cleaner for everyone.
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Episode 23
Behind the Seams: Sustainability and Circularity in Fashion (Part 2)
Brooke Roberts-Islam, Co-founder, TECHSTYLER & Senior Contributor, ForbesWhen it comes to the apparel industry, sustainability isn’t so black and white. As Techstyler co-founder Brooke Roberts-Islam reveals in this episode, there are plenty of emerging trends in the fashion world that are turning heads and growing interest.
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Episode 22
Behind the Seams: Sustainability and Circularity in Fashion (Part 1)
Dr. Julie Willoughby, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, CircDo you feel guilty throwing away old clothes? You’re not alone. Luckily, companies like Circ are applying sustainable solutions to create a more circular fashion economy. In part one of our two-part episode on sustainability and circularity in the fashion industry, we speak with Dr. Julie Willoughby of Circ. She explains how manufacturers are using advanced recycling to transform fabrics that were once thought of as single use into high-quality clothing.