The ACC call for 30% recycling of plastics by 2030 emphasizes chemical recycling, and in our ESG and Climate report yesterday we talked about an alternate path for plastics, one that focuses on reducing waste rather than increasing recycling. The product standardization and consumer and municipality waste collection and sorting rigor that would be needed to maximize mechanical recycling are significantly harder to achieve than the changes that would be needed to dramatically increase chemical recycling – i.e. it may be easier and less expensive to get to zero waste than it is to get to maximum recycling. Maybe we are thinking about this wrong, but to change tacks from here the industry would need to demonstrate that plastic waste can be removed, at scale, and then convince the plastic buyers that the path is better. We discuss the possibility in more depth in yesterday’s report.
