Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem? 

We need to reduce and reuse first. Yes, recycle, but reduce and reuse first. There's a reason why recycling comes last.

I feel like recycling gives people a feel good reason to keep consuming plastic. The best way to deal with the plastic water bottle is to not use em.

Tax breaks for using recycled plastics will get businesses on board. Businesses hate taxes.

Imagine a future where mining for plastic from buried landfills is a thing.

Here in Veneto, Italy, we recycle every thing in houses, from paper and glass to plastics, even if the biggest part of the industries don’t recycle anything.

It's really quite simple. Make plastics a higher taxed product whether it's produced in locally or imported. Take those taxes and use those same taxes as a kickback for recycling companies so that those companies can see a profit from their products. We tax literally EVERYTHING else, why not?

The guy in the video said it perfectly. We’re trying to solve the problem downstream. We should be fixing the problem from the source.

I am in favor of taxing plastics more.

I seem to have missed how you answered the hard questions: How do you deal with plastic contaminated with food or other waste? How do you separate the different types of plastic or deal with cross contamination?

Now a days amazon ships more plastic or styrofoam than the product volume itself. This is a concern in itself. Whenever we order online we are creating more waste.

11:40 I agree that the main approach should be to impose a fee on producers of virgin plastics... spending all this money on trying to prop up recycling industry itself is not very efficient; producers must contribute to the waste they are causing.

If governments really cared, they'd just outlaw plastics and force change. Businesses will always look to cut costs so that they can be more competitive, so you're not going to get them to change their ways voluntarily - that would be suicide for most companies.

Plastic for certain applications is fine, but I think for single use food containers, we need to subsidize glass, aluminum, and paper.

Why can't we be like Germany & Mexico and reuse glass bottles for beverages?

Since COVID, my local supermarket stopped allowing customers to bring in their own bags unless you want to bag your groceries yourself. So now they went back to offering paper or plastic. Can't win.

There was a wrong understanding about Extender Producer Responsibility mentioned in this CNBC presentation. The purpose of Extended Producer Responsibility (or EPR) is not so much a tax to force Petchem companies reduce the production of plastics by increasing the cost of making plastic, but rather EPR is a way to fund the cost of recycling plastics so that it is a commercially viable business. Today, many countries find it difficult to promote recycling because it is economically not viable to do so. It is not always about the price of recycled plastic material (including pyrolysis oil that is produced from chemcycling and can be used to make new plastics), but it is also about a lack of commercial framework that makes plastic recycling a difficult and uncertain business to do. For example, the price of pyrolysis oil is often linked to fossil oil prices, the fluctuations in the price of crude and pyrolysis oil makes the plastic recycling business a risky endeavor. Additional financial incentive from an EPR scheme can help to reduce the level of uncertainty by providing a more stable pricing regime, thus making it less risky for the private sector to do this as a commercially viable business.

From a free market point of view, the problem seems like recycled plastics don't get the credit they warrant for reducing littering and water pollution. On at least a statistical basis, it would be possible to link back the litter to the producers. If the producers were charged based on there contribution to the problem, then the free market could address the problem via deposits, subsidizes for collection, or other means.

The environmental cost of plastic needs to be included in the cost of production, otherwise plastic companies will continue churning out plastics at a destructive rate with no cost to themselves. Legislation that taxes producers proportionally to the environmental harm they cause is a great solution. "Open market competition" will just result in companies continuing to push these costs onto future generations by not taking responsibility for the damage they are causing.

I seen much of this crap myself while sailing the oceans and paddling rivers. In the U.S. plastic is found washed up along shores in large quantities everywhere. Much of this plastic discarded along roads ends up in storm drains, then to streams, then to rivers and finally into the ocean.

The problem with stressing recycling as policy is that it places the responsibility for the excessive consumption on the consumer instead of on the producer. The classic example is CD packaging. The producer can make a huge package that makes no sense to anyone but themselves, then say that the consumer is evil because they did not recycle it. A more appropriate package from the producer is the only valid answer. Recycling implies that the end product is similar to (dare I say equal to) the original product (example an aluminum, a can becomes a new can). Most recycled plastic today is used as an industrial filler. Depending on what it is used to fill, this can be labeled as de-centralized dumping rather than recycling (example: using ground plastic as a filler in drywall - yes they do this). Chemical recycling is really the only real recycling for plastic. Plastics are wonderful because they have extremely long polymer chains that make them very strong. When the the plastic is recycled, the first step is grinding which shortens the polymer chains. if it is not re-polymerized then the resulting product is inferior product compared to the original source. The polymer chains are shorter and the product is weak. Chemical recycling is re polymerization. The problem is that historically re-polymerization has used enormous quantities of vary dangerous industrial solvents (primarily Xylene). This makes it extremely unfriendly to the environment. Reduction of the consumption of plastics is the only solution and most modern recycling of plastics is really not recycling, it is decentralized dumping. It is a crutch and a very poor one at that. I fear what the trolls are going to do to his post.

I put loads of packaging in recycling ... yet I know for a fact that most of it doesn’t even make it to the factory for recycling. They need to bring back glass bottles and making these things reusable as much as possible.

This video is very informative, I'm all into recycling, I do what I can, but I realize now, even doh it helps, it is not going to be enough. We need to try to reduce some how the consumption of plastics, and not only plastic but everything else.

Great report. Thank you for sharing. IMHO, we should pursue both chemical recycling as well as reduction in overall plastic use at the source. These two activities should not be mutually exclusive.

Great video on a complex problem. And kudos for disabling the new Google trend of the same annoying RU-vid ad every two minutes. I think channels that avoid having most give up on RU-vid due to excessive ads are most likely to succeed.

Love when a dirty technology calls for the free market to be the decision makers. As if. Less plastic? Fantastic.

Separate lids and remove labels. Rinse your bottles, bin when dry. Do what you can on your part!

Roofing, siding, framing, decking, walls, roads, so many uses! Retrofit supertankers to collect and process the material out sea.

A pretty good overview of a really complex topic- CNBC are surprising me these days!

We need to be using more of that mushroom mycilum containers.

Some developed countries close an eye when their companies dump unrecyclable plastic to develping countries, that's bad

It seems obvious to me. The bane is single use plastics. We live in disposable society and plastic is not really disposable. It's too hard to break down. Go to Costco and walk down any aisle. You will see all kinds of plastic packaging that eventually ends up in a landfill. It will still be there long after we are gone. It's a sad legacy we leave behind. And it's not even the stuff that we bought, it's just the wrapping it came in. Pathetic.

I'm going to open this in Canada thank you for this God bless you

It’s always the same issue over and over again. We create a PROBLEM then we struggle for years to find a solution for it. I hope one day there would be a global awareness of what’s good and what’s bad for the environment

Meanwhile in Sweden Recycling rate in 2019 Cans (aluminum) 85,8% Bottles (PET) 84,1% Common goal 90 % Zero new traditional landfills.

I'm old enough to remember when you bought soda pop in glass bottles that were returned to the grocery store where you got paid for the. We also had glass milk bottles and orange juice as well. Nobody walked around with plastic water bottles and we did just fine. Emerging technology will solve this issue and it will have to because mixed recyclables left at the curb is just stupid. Someday in the future the landfills may be dug up and those piles of rubbish processed for other uses.

There is a company in Alberta, Canada called Cielo Waste Management. They can recycle all 7 different plastics and turn it into biodesiel.

Plastic: I’m a virgin Me: so am I

I saw on a RU-vid video at least before Covid-19 Chinese as an incentive against littering would drop an empty bottle into specified plastic collection points and receive credit for public transportation: bus pass for example. Just an idea, not a solution though.

Companies, especially in the US, would never allow for a plastic tax or ban they’ll blame the consumers which is where we get the idea of “change your lifestyle to save the Earth” it’s been pushed into our minds so that these billionaires would escape accountability.

Thank you, CNBC for listening to my request for this topic. Appreciate the effort to show the possibilities. I disagree with alternatives to chemical recycling. We should focus on chemical recycling as it will allow us to remove the plastic in the current environment. All other processes leave the existing plastics in the oceans, landfills, etc.

Most of recycling comes from getting paid for it but when prices go down then its not worth it

7:43 Come on CNBC where is the editing for that booger

My state in India has banned plastic bags for groceries etc. All of us use reusable cloth bags. But everything else is sold in plastics like soap liquid, shampoos, grains, legumes, processed food etc. it’s just impossible to live without it these days...

We need laws to stop the common use of plastics 3,4,5,6,7 whether thats laws, taxes, etc. And we need government support on recycling technology, a push on research as well. Countries in Europe are getting ahead of us and so is China.

at least were in a good direction

Right now the simplest solution is that use LESS!!!!

I recently read about enzymes created that devours the plastic as well. Early stages but so far doing pretty well in all tests.

I see that by focusing so much on "recycling" the plastic it is becoming an industry upon itself. Right now the the goal is to reduce plastic waist; however at some future point the owners will be unwilling to go out of business and possibly try to find "behind the scene" ways to keep the plastic problem as a problem. Keeping them in business. We really need to attach this problem on all fronts. 1) find another alternative for plastic other then fossil fuels. such as seaweed (like they have done in England).2) legislation for the plastic companies to reduce the amount of plastic. and food manufacturing companies to produce a % of their product in glass containers. Giving those of use that want to buy a product~ milk, organic eggs, honey, ext. the option to not have the food in a chemical leaching container. 3) to have more companies willing to receive back the glass container for a reduced refill cost. ( there is one company in NY that is already doing this. you can order soap, oj, and shampoo, ect. in metal containers and they deliver it to you and pick up the empties when you request it.) 4) We also need to have a population that is willing to have their lives changed/inconvenienced for the greater good. Do we really need 16 different flavors of the same brand of soda? or cereal? or whatever? 5) the industry needs to be as transparent as the glass they should be using. without these changes I feel that we are barley treading water.

Create a problem and then scurry into a solution 👏

We’re on the path now we just wait

Some problems, people may want to recycle, but companies do not unless they can make money from it, this is what your local garbage companies do. As mentioned if it's cheaper to make from scratch than to recycle why would anyone recycle? Then packaging companies basically are throwing away all their garbage to us consumers by over packaging literally everything... now it's our problem to deal with the waste. Lastly, banning single use plastic bags... great so now they sell you a thicker plastic bag, that in my experience very few people actually bring back to reuse. Instead they could just ban plastic bags all together, use paper bags, paper breaks down so it's not a problem, it literally grows on trees so it's renewable, however they still charge you for a paper bag (at least here) too. And all these rules about charging for bags... that money doesn't go to cleaning up anything, it just goes into the pockets of the stores.

Chemically speaking, it isn't impossible (or even challenging) to recycle plastic. It's simply too expensive to compete with plastic made from crude oil. So until virgin (petroleum-based) plastic is taxed, or recycled plastic is subsidized to equalize the price, it's just not going to happen.

So we turn plastic into fuel, 14% of CO2 emissions cut compared to produce fuel from crude oil. BUT then we have still to refine crude oil in order to produce virgin plastic to substitute that "plastic product" which needs to be replaced, so...

You can start by Banning all but the 2 recyclable types..

Aren't chemicals from burnt plastics toxic? And maybe we should consider recycled plastics for more durable application like small dwellings?

My plan to reduce plastic waste would be to at first introduced a tax on plastic's that starts low, but increases for the next five years and give a 10 year notice period (or shorter if possible) for a time when making non-recycled plastics will be illegal.

Imagine a world with zero plastic packaging alone, wow, Glass beverages, egg carton style packaging, burlap bags of fruit and veg, rice containers, aluminium containers, wax containers, wouldn't that be nice.

One time use plastic Product should be banned. Others should be bio degradable plastic.

RETURN TO SENDER laws are required. Taxes, fees, etc. are too easily re-appropriated, lost or politically inconvenient. If there are no nationwide consumer industries for converting end of use materials then the producer industry should be required to receive the products they manufacture after the product has served its initial purpose. Deny the "waste" a place to reside; aggregation of waste into large holes, former lakes, deserts and oceans can be outlawed when there is a possibility that investment into research will find a means to reuse the material being generated. It is not unrealistic. We do that now with some metals. (aluminum, gold, lead, mercury, silver, steel) Industry may actually switch back to producing quality products that are useful for many generations. Products that are designed to be repaired not disposed of! I think of all those cheap kitch gadgets and toys that are used for five minutes or five days and then tossed into a hole in the ground by the city garbage department.

here in Venezuela most of us reuse plastic bottles to refill detergent, dish soap, etc cuz buying retail is too expensive

Hope this work I see 🐦 stuck in plastic and water 💧 fish 🐠 dear lord

First, let's stop manufacturing single-use plastics and the only way they will stop is when we as consumers stop using single-use plastics.

Somehow using container ships that consume as much as 17 MILLION litres per mile of travel on the ocean is obviously a better plan, same can be said for the "plant base" foods shipped half way around the world rather than locally reared or grown.

There are no separate bins where i am, soooooo i just try to reduce my usage as much as i can.

Recycling is a sham, tbh. This chemical alternative will definitely mess up the environment. Why not focus on balancing it or at least provide degradable alternatives

Humans: Well this planet is getting destroyed, and we are responsible... Also humans: Shall we go to next one called Mars?👁👄👁

I 100% stopped buying bottled water about 9 years ago. Also, whenever I go to the market/farmer's market or go to dinner, I always bring my own Tupperware (yes I buy the brand name stuff, lol) so I never bring containers home. People look at me like I'm nuts, but who cares!

At least in my area I've been seeing more reusable cups You buy and can keep filling it up at say 7 11 Or a jacksons And what not Which is a good idea Reuse it until you can't Then definitely have a good working recycling system

Investing in Crypto now should be in every wise individuals list, in some months time you'll be estactic with the decision you made today

They could go back to glass bottles or cardboard cartons.

those debates always give me a headache. the baselines for comparing alternative seems to be floating in people's mind every time when discussing alternatives

10:05 i thought we didn’t use polystyrene food packaging anymore? The ozone hole and all that.

Make plastic fence post different non bearing lumber landscape timber’s plastic panels

What about Loop Industries? they have chemical recycling solution that doesn't use pyrolysis, low energy, back to virgin quality for PET. Can also recycle polyester. They're publicly traded - CNBC, what are you missing here?

Plastic consuming in the medical field is scaryyyyy Gloves, gowns & masks are essential

As long as we continue to pull oil from the ground, it won't matter what the final product is (gas, plastics, oil, diesel, etc), nor how many times it's recycled or into what. The end is the same. Hydrocarbons will continue to be extracted from the deep (from petroleum) and left on the earth's surface (as greenhouse gases, waste, more plastics, fuel, etc). Even if you have bacterial decomposition, you still have that source material in the end. From a chemist's perspective, you have a certain amount of mass (oil) pulled from the ground and that mass must be preserved in the form of waste of some sort. So no matter the recycling method, over time, we will always end up with more and more and more.

Both perspectives can be right at the same time... There is 127 years of already produced plastic already in the environment and slowing or stopping new plastic production doesn't address that. But recycling and rerecycling old plastics doesn't address the new Virgin plastics that are being added to the environment daily.

Salute to all.great work

What about the waste from the chemical reactions we would still be polluting with every tint bit of gas releasing into the environment from the reaction

We allways say "reuse, reduce, and recycle" meaning we need to focus on reusing like buy glass with re sealable lids or covers. Reduce buying plastic and high waste materials. And recycle the materials you cannot reuse like broken glass or bottles with no lids or broken plastic containers

Cleanly burn every bit of waste and convert the energy to clean electricity as is done in advanced countries (Switzerland, Sweden etc.) I suspect there is opposition to this in the USA from gas and oil pumpers.

in my country the plastic is processed and the profitable portion is sold. the majority, ordinary garbage is pressed and sent to a sanitary landfill, where natural gas is produced and these residues are properly stored. at the end, the landfills are sealed, covered with soil and a small forest is planted. in the end it is not distinguished from a normal hill.

I go to the super market and now baked goods are now packaged in clear plastic as are rossertie chickens, fresh salads, egg cartons, fresh fruit and most often these containers items go into consumer's trash and if they happen to go into a recycle bin. will they actually be recycled ?

Nothing will change till the pain of non-action becomes greater than the pain of taking action. That's human nature in a nutshell.

i wander how much the fuel would cost and what octane ?

Does that also include plastic fishing net's, witch is a massive problem that no one is talking about???.

We need to significantly increase taxes on any virgin plastics and other compounds. If it's not madefrom something recycled, it should cost more. This can offset the true environmental cost.

I watched some guy here on YT restoring 100+ years old farm and under the farm house that was almost a mini landfill. Plastic garbage dating all the way back to late 60's and it all looked like new just a little bit faded. Its is really terrible, far worse than one might expect.

Explain to my why the plastic my food comes in never breaks down yet every plastic part in my car disintegrates 10 years to the day!

we need to add value to the product made from recycled resins

The biggest game changer to stop plastic waste to crude the eniviroment. If the giant soda and juice companies would stop using plastic bottles. Instead they can use glass bottles. People can bring the glass bottles to Shoprite, Walmart, Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, etc etc.... Then these retailers can give some money back to the customer( the cost of glass bottle), only if the customer brings back the empty glass bottles. Then the retailers can ship out empty glass bottle and get there money back from the companies. This is a win win situation on both ends. This method would work fantastic if the company's owners, goverment and mostly importantly the people work together to stop the waste plastic that is hurting the world's furture.

And why not include environmental costs on the initial production of plastics?! In a civilized and democratic society, it would've been a good idea.

I agree with everyone saying we should reduce our usage, but we're not realizing who the main offenders are. Companies use A LOT of plastics. I work for the auto industry and what a regular person use of plastics per year, a small sized production plant uses in a day. As far as I can see, that won't change any time soon.

Uhm. How come the chemical companies only make profits on production of plastic, and the clean up responsibilities are on us?

We make synthetic rubber sheets for footwear industry from wastage polyethylene thrown away single use plastic bags. More than two metric ton of plastic bags are upcycled in a day in our Dhaka based facilities. Reducing overall CO2e emissions. And avoiding micro plastics flowing into river, ocean.

Agilyx CFO Bill Cooper: " If virgin plastics cost more because there's a tax on them, that helps us out. But I think that open market competition is really the true way in the long run to foster the innovation and the efficiency to drive higher recycling rates across all plastic types." Taxes on negative externalities are intended to make consumers/producers pay the full social cost of the good. This reduces consumption and creates a more socially efficient outcome. Certainly a strange position to have for the CFO of a recycling company.

Every single electric wire in your home auto and world has a plastic coating. Total elimination of plastic is utter insanity!

The cheapest and safest is cook it with hot oil and it melt together then use injection molding machine and solvent to reproduce into useful products effortlessly

I wonder if we built a shaft large enough and deep enough with an exhaust shaft on the other end, we could compress pelletised plastic waste into these shaft using archimedes screws and use the geothermal heat to trigger a pyrolytic process, cap the exhaust end and process the exhaust gases through distillation, cryogenics and carbon capture.

Maybe if some restrictions like to produce only a few types of plastic... is more easyer to separate and recycle