CHEMICAL RECYCLING: TACKLING PLASTIC WASTE
Shell Chemicals is working to utilise plastic waste as feedstock in our global chemical plants.
Plastic products have many benefits – they help improve living standards, are present in almost every part of modern healthcare, and are used in many of the products we rely on every day. Plastic waste however is a global issue, and in places where waste management infrastructure or plastic waste is not managed appropriately, it can end up as litter.
It is estimated that of the plastic waste generated, 353 million tonnes, only 9% is recycled, and the remainder goes to landfill, incineration or unmanaged after use. Plastic recycling rates vary widely by region and are far below the global recycling rates for products like paper (60%) and iron and steel (~80%).
Plastic waste comes in all shapes and forms, from mattresses to furniture, to drink bottles, to construction pipes; it varies in quality and quantity and no single recycling technology can deal with all the different varieties of waste. In addition to initiatives to reduce and reuse plastic, using a combination of technologies is needed to achieve higher recycling rates for plastic and help divert plastic waste from landfill, incineration, or leakage into the environment.
Chemical recycling helps transform plastic waste into circular chemicals
Mechanical recycling is best suited for recycling lightweight plastics like drink bottles or milk jugs; however, alternatives are needed for other plastics that cannot be mechanically recycled and are currently destined for incineration or landfill. Chemical recycling technologies can expand the types of plastics that can be recycled. Shell is working on several technologies to utilize waste in the circular economy but is focusing particularly on chemical recycling through pyrolysis, where hard-to-recycle plastic waste like snack bags, ready meals, or plastic film, that are not suitable for mechanical recycling, are turned into pyrolysis oil, a liquid that replaces hydrocarbons to produce circular chemicals. These circular chemicals are used by our customers to make a wide variety of products found in everyday life like cleaning products, textiles, food packaging and others.
The circular process of recycling plastic waste
At Shell, we believe chemical recycling offers a valuable and viable way to complement reduce, reuse and mechanical recycling measures, and is needed to achieve higher recycling rates. Industry collaboration and the right policy frameworks are vital to scale chemical recycling technologies, introduce more recycled products to everyday life and achieve a more circular economy for plastics.
