We want to focus on the following headline as it is both relevant and confusing:
We see a lot of stories about increased recycling, but the mechanical recycling stories are generally small volumes and these are the ones that are relevant to the Brand Commitments mentioned in the headline. There are many more chemical recycling initiatives and these are focused on plastic waste removal. Chemical recycling turns the plastic waste into fuels (gas and liquid) and unless the facilities are close to ethylene units – most of which are not because it makes sense to build them where the waste is – the fuels will not be recycled into more plastic and even when they are there is at best a 50% conversion rate. Chemical recycling is a great means of disposing of large volumes of plastic waste, but it will create an availability problem for Brand Owners committed to recycled content. Polymer producers will either have to convince Brand Owners that this is OK, either because the polymer is being recycled just not in a chain of custody that impacts the consumer, or because they are lowering the carbon footprint of the virgin polymers in other ways. Otherwise, the Brand Owners will look elsewhere – renewable-based polymers or other materials. Our view is that recycling needs to be more holistic. Chemical recycling has it's place, but the goal should be to minimize it's use, see diagram below. See our ESG reports on our website.