Michael Harrop
Active member
https://www.propublica.org/article/delusion-advanced-chemical-plastic-recycling-pyrolysis
The plastics industry is heralding pyrolysis as nothing short of a miracle: The “advanced” type of recycling uses heat to break plastic all the way down to its molecular building blocks.
Given the high stakes of this moment, I set out to understand exactly what the world is getting out of this recycling technology. For months, I tracked press releases, interviewed experts, tried to buy plastic made via pyrolysis and learned more than I ever wanted to know about the science of recycled molecules.
Under all the math and engineering, I found an inconvenient truth: Not much is being recycled at all, nor is pyrolysis capable of curbing the plastic crisis.
Not now. Maybe not ever.
Lesson 1
Most of the old plastic that goes into pyrolysis doesn’t actually become new plastic.
Lesson 2
The plastic that comes out of pyrolysis contains very little recycled material.
Lesson 3
The industry uses mathematical acrobatics to make pyrolysis look like a success.
At best, the world could replace 0.2% of new plastic churned out in a year with products made through pyrolysis.
- Format correct?
- Yes