I see the basic problem as "plastic monomers cost about 50 cents a pound." Exxon-Mobil is happy for chemical recycling systems to break plastics down to "a mix of chemicals you might find in the BTX section of a chemical factory" because those all cost about... 50 cents a pound and are interchangable from that point of view.
Landfilling costs maybe 2 cents a pound, any kind of recycling scheme chemical or mechanical has a hard time beating that.
That said there is some market for mechanical recycling. I've got some nice garmets made from recycled PET bottles, I think the feel of the polyester is better than average. That's no "circular economy" however. In New York you can find PET bottles for Pepsi and Coke company beverages but I know some people who are afraid these will shed more microplastics than virgin bottles.
Plastic is not and never has been recyclable. It’s not cost effective or chemically viable.
Plastic recycling was invented by a plastic producer funded advertising campaign to shift blame from the producer to the consumer.
I see the basic problem as "plastic monomers cost about 50 cents a pound." Exxon-Mobil is happy for chemical recycling systems to break plastics down to "a mix of chemicals you might find in the BTX section of a chemical factory" because those all cost about... 50 cents a pound and are interchangable from that point of view.
Landfilling costs maybe 2 cents a pound, any kind of recycling scheme chemical or mechanical has a hard time beating that.
That said there is some market for mechanical recycling. I've got some nice garmets made from recycled PET bottles, I think the feel of the polyester is better than average. That's no "circular economy" however. In New York you can find PET bottles for Pepsi and Coke company beverages but I know some people who are afraid these will shed more microplastics than virgin bottles.