Advanced Recycling: A Solution to the Plastic Waste Crisis?

In the 1980s, Disney World’s Solid Waste Energy Conversion Plant attempted to generate power from plastic waste using pyrolysis, but it closed after a year due to high operating costs. Today, environmental campaigners cite the Disney story to question advanced recycling technologies, which aim to convert plastic waste back into new plastic. However, pyrolysis has improved since the 1980s, and advanced recycling has the potential to solve the plastic waste crisis by diverting millions of tonnes of discarded plastic from landfills and incinerators. While there are concerns regarding toxic waste generation, energy use, and the perpetuation of conventional plastics, most advanced recycling technologies are environmentally preferable to the alternatives.

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