How can chemical recycling accelerate safe plastic recycling in the EU?

The quantity of plastic recycled in the EU is staggeringly low. Just 15% of EU-collected plastic waste finds its way back into the EU plastic market. If we are to create a cleaner and more competitive Europe – one of the objectives of the upcoming EU Circular Economy Action Plan – we must make boosting plastic waste recycling rates an urgent priority in the next few years.   Solutions to accelerate plastic recycling already exist. Chemical recycling is a key technology that can transform plastic waste into valuable feedstock to produce chemicals and plastics.   The European chemical industry has committed to work with other organisations to ensure that 10m tonnes of recycled plastic find their way back into products by 2025. The industry’s role is to help scale up the chemical recycling technology so that it could become a viable recycling option for plastic waste.