We have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks talking about polymer recycling and renewables and the chart below is another look at where plastic waste is coming from. Packaging is the big piece and it is also the area where customers, i.e. the packagers, are looking for the largest increase in the use of recycled materials quickly. As we noted in our ESG and Climate piece this week, increasing volumes of this packaging waste is moving into different use applications, such as building products and durables, and even more could potentially flow into chemical recycling – note that there are 7 headlines on chemical/advanced recycling in today's daily report. The packagers have little chance of meeting their near-term recycling content goals in our opinion, but they have zero chance if they do not accept chemical recycling as part of the mix. It will be important to accurately audit the chain of custody of chemical recycling to avoid double counting. The separate challenge with chemical recycling is the now increased focus on carbon footprints, as the pyrolysis process is energy-intensive, whether direct heat from burning fossil fuel or electric power-based heat.
