Shell pilots technology to recycle plastic waste back into chemicals in Louisiana

A cargo of liquid plastic waste has been processed back into raw high-end chemicals for reuse at Shell's Norco facility in St. Charles Parish — a first for the plant. Shell Chemical LP, the Houston-based U.S. subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, used a process known as pyrolysis. The process takes liquid plastic waste feedstock and creates raw materials for new products using high temperatures to separate the materials.  It's a strategy to deal with "hard to recycle" plastic products and meet customer demand for "high quality and sustainable products," according to the company.  "We want to take waste plastics that are tough to recycle by traditional methods and turn them back into chemicals, creating a circle," Thomas Casparie, executive vice president of Shell's global chemicals business, said in a news release.