The data makes it clear: Plastic recycling alone cannot solve the plastic pollution crisis. While recycling plastic food packaging can help offset the growing demand for virgin plastic production, reducing the overall production of virgin plastics and the use of non-essential plastics will be needed.
1️⃣ Mechanical recycling is not infinite. Today, the recycling of plastic food packaging is primarily mechanical: processing centers chop used plastic packaging into small pieces, then mold it back together. A key challenge with this is that plastics can only be recycled in this way a limited number of times due to their material properties. This means that plastic cannot be mechanically recycled indefinitely.
2️⃣ There is too much plastic to be recycled. According to the OECD, of the seven billion tonnes of plastic waste generated globally by 2019, only 9% was recycled. 49% was landfilled, 22% was mismanaged, and 19% was incinerated (https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/global-plastics-outlook_de747aef-en.html). Pew Trusts and Systemiq found that scaling up recycling infrastructure enough to address the giant increases in plastic production forecasted in the coming decades is neither technically nor financially feasible (https://www.systemiq.earth/breakingtheplasticwave).
3️⃣ Recycling can have its own impacts. Plastic recycling helps to manage plastic waste, but it can also adversely impact the people who work in the sector and the surrounding environment. Studies have shown that, especially in developing countries, occupational health and safety are not always ensured within the plastic recycling industry (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-7908-2733-0_13). An increasing amount of plastics is sent to these countries for recycling.
4️⃣ Advanced and chemical recycling has not been scalable. New recycling technologies referred to as advanced or chemical recycling use heat, pressure, and/or chemicals to break plastic polymers down into smaller molecules. A study commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment finds their technical feasibility and economic viability is not proven, and their environmental assessment is unclear. It argues that no excessive subsidies should be provided for chemical recycling of plastics (https://www.aramis.admin.ch/Texte/?ProjectID=55619&Sprache=en-US).
