Plastic recycling

Plastic recycling collects and processes discarded plastic into material or feedstock for reuse. It includes mechanical reprocessing and chemical conversion, whose feasibility varies by polymer, contamination, and infrastructure.

Mechanical recycling: A recycling process that sorts, cleans, melts, and reshapes waste materials without changing their basic chemical structure. This is the main route for turning sorted plastic waste into recycled resin.
Polymer: A substance made of molecules containing long chains or networks of repeating molecular units. Plastic products are made from polymers whose structures shape recycling options.
Bottle-to-bottle recycling: The recycling of used plastic bottles into material for manufacturing new bottles. It illustrates a closed-loop use that can preserve demand for recycled resin.
Plastic incineration: The controlled burning of plastic waste, usually to reduce its volume and sometimes to generate energy. Incineration destroys material value rather than returning polymer or feedstock to production.
Life-cycle assessment: A method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product or process across its life cycle. It compares recycling with producing virgin plastic or using other waste-management routes.
Chemical recycling: Processes that convert polymers into chemical feedstocks, monomers, or other substances through chemical reactions. It aims to recover feedstocks from plastics that are difficult to remelt into useful products.
Thermoplastic: A polymer that softens when heated and hardens when cooled, allowing repeated reshaping under suitable conditions. Many common packaging plastics can be mechanically recycled because they are thermoplastics.
Downcycling: The reuse of recovered material in products with lower performance or value than the original product. Plastic recycling often shifts material into less demanding uses rather than equivalent products.
Landfill: A site engineered for the disposal of waste in or on the ground. Landfilling avoids reprocessing but leaves plastic material unused and can create long-term pollution risks.
Circular economy: An economic model that aims to keep products and materials in use while minimizing waste. Plastic recycling is one strategy for retaining material value within circular systems.

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