Cefic: Chemical Recycling – Making Plastics Circular

Cefic’s new virtual exhibition Chemical Recycling: Making Plastics Circular has been launched. You can find 17 Cefic member company examples of Chemical Recycling technologies so far.

In Europe, about 30 million tonnes of plastic waste is collected every year. But still 85% of that ends up in landfill or is incinerated. This is not only a source of CO₂ emissions but is also a waste of valuable resources. The chemical industry is determined to change this. How?

With chemical recycling technologies, the industry has developed complementary solutions to existing mechanical recycling to recycle mixed or contaminated plastic waste that otherwise would be incinerated or sent to landfill. These technologies can break down plastics and transform them into valuable secondary raw materials to produce new chemicals and plastics of equivalent quality to those made from fossil resources. Together with value chain partners, the chemical industry has already successfully developed consumer products like food packaging, refrigerator parts, mattresses, carpets, and dashboards in cars.

Discover how chemical recycling technologies make plastics circular and explore Cefic’s members’ concrete examples. Read more on Cefic homepage. 

Highlights on chemical recycling:

Neste aims to process over 1 million tons of waste plastic annually from 2030 onwards 

A solution to reuse and re-enter waste into product lifecycles by BASF

Borealis: Chemical recycling, a part of the solution for closing the loop