Chemical Recycling: A Sustainable Solution for Plastic Waste Management

The accumulation of plastic waste constitutes a growing global challenge, highlighting the critical role of recycling in waste management. Despite the fact that, the mechanical recycling is one of the most common and well established plastic recycling methods, however, it struggles with mixed, contaminated, or degraded plastic waste. Chemical recycling can complement mechanical recycling by processing hard-to-recycle mechanically plastic waste to close this gap by converting waste plastics into feedstocks for the production of virgin-quality plastics and chemicals. This white paper, written in the framework of the eLECTRO project, outlines key technologies, benefits, challenges, and market trends, and assesses the role of chemical recycling in a circular, low-carbon plastics economy.