Plastic Recycling: Not All Solutions Are Equal
On this World Recycling Day, March 18, it's the perfect moment to reflect on the vital role recycling plays in reducing plastic waste and driving sustainability forward. Plastic is everywhere in our daily lives—packaging, textiles, automotive parts—and with it comes a major environmental crisis. Recycling is often seen as the go-to solution to mitigate its impact, but not all recycling methods are created equal. Some are far more sustainable than others, especially in terms of carbon footprint.
So, which recycling methods actually work? Why does mechanical recycling remain one of the best options? And how are companies pushing the boundaries to give plastic—especially polypropylene (PP), one of the most used plastics —a second life? Let's dive in.
Mechanical Recycling: One of the Best Options
Mechanical recycling is currently the most widely used and environmentally friendly method. It involves shredding, washing, and remelting plastic waste to create new materials—without chemically altering the polymer structure.
The Facts Speak for Themselves
Almost all recycled plastic in Europe comes from mechanical recycling. (Plastics Europe, 2022[1])
It has a lower carbon footprint[2] than chemical recycling.
The mechanical recycling rate for PET (bottles) and HDPE (containers) in Europe is 58%. (Eurostat, 2022[3])
A Concrete Example: PET Bottles
PET, the plastic used in water and soda bottles, can be recycled 2 to 3 times before its quality starts to degrade. To encourage recycling, France sets targets for recycled content: 25% by 2025 for PET beverage bottles and 30% by 2030 for all plastic beverage bottles and the requirement to collect at least 90% of single-use plastic beverage bottles by 2030
At the European level, the recently adopted PPWR regulation (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) raises the bar even higher: by 2030, single-use plastic beverage bottles must contain at least 30% recycled content, increasing to 65% by 2040.
But while mechanical recycling works well for some plastics, others—like polypropylene (PP)—remain significantly under-recycled.
Polypropylene (PP) Recycling: A Key Challenge for the Industry
Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most widely used plastics, found in automotive, packaging, and household appliances. Yet, its recycling rate remains far lower than that of PET or HDPE.
Why Is PP So Difficult to Recycle?
It is often mixed with other materials (fibers, additives, pigments), making mechanical recycling more complex.
Its mechanical recycling process leads to a loss of properties, limiting its reuse in high-performance applications.
The market for recycled PP (rPP) is still unstructured, resulting in inconsistent supply and availability.
Concrete Solutions for Recycling PP
Advanced mechanical recycling: Purifying and enhancing recycled PP to ensure quality close to virgin plastic.
Additives & reinforcement: Incorporating fibers or additives to restore strength and durability, while ensuring the material remains fully recyclable.
Developing new supply chains: Structuring the rPP market to improve accessibility and competitiveness.
Real-World Applications of Recycled PP
Automotive
Renault Group [4] and Stellantis [5] aim for up to 40% recycled plastics in their new vehicle ranges by 2030.
MATERI’ACT integrates mechanically recycled PP into dashboard, door panels, center consoles, and interior trims.
Packaging
Brands like Unilever [6], Mars [7], and L'Oréal [8] use up to 100% recycled PP for bottle caps and containers, reducing virgin plastic usage.
Some food trays are now made from recycled PP, but food-grade applications remain highly regulated, requiring strict quality standards. AI-driven sorting technologies are being developed to improve the capture of food-grade PP for better circularity.
Furniture & Appliances
IKEA incorporates recycled PP into chairs, shelves, and storage solutions.
Electrolux Group and Bosch use rPP in vacuum cleaner parts and washing machine components.
Chemical Recycling: A Complementary Solution in Development
Since mechanical recycling has limitations, chemical recycling is often presented as a promising alternative. This term covers several technologies designed to handle plastics that are difficult to recycle mechanically.
Depolymerization (catalytic or enzymatic) can break down polymers like PET into their original monomers, making it easier to create high-quality recycled plastics.
For polyolefins like PP, the process typically converts plastic into a pyrolysis oil, which is then used as a raw material in steam crackers to produce new monomers.
While these technologies hold potential, they are still in development and face several challenges:
Environmental impact to optimize: Most chemical recycling methods require high temperatures and significant energy consumption, leading to a large carbon footprint. Ongoing efforts aim to improve energy efficiency and integrate renewable energy sources.
Emerging technology: Currently, only 1% of recycled plastic in Europe comes from chemical recycling (Plastics Europe, 2022[9]), but investments are growing to improve viability.
High costs & low efficiency: Some studies estimate that less than 15%[10] of chemically treated waste is successfully converted into new plastics, with efficiency varying by process and material type.
Better Recycling Starts with Better Design[FA9]nbsp;
Rather than trying to recycle all plastics at any cost, the smarter approach is to design products for easier recyclability from the start—and to consider the full lifecycle impact, including Scope 3 emissions.
Eco-design: Simplifying packaging composition and prioritizing mono-materials, such as clear PET over complex, multi-layered plastics.
Design for Scope 3: Optimizing materials not only for recyclability but also to minimize downstream carbon emissions. This requires a deep understanding of how materials are ultimately used, ensuring the right formulation for the intended application. This deep insight into end-use applications and lifecycle performance is a unique strength of MATERI’ACT, enabling the development of tailored formulations that meet process, circularity and carbon reduction goals.
Standardization: Companies like Danone and Nestlé are committing to more standardized, easily recyclable packaging solutions.
Reducing plastic use: Some businesses are moving away from single-use plastics in favor of reuse models, like deposit-return systems.
Recycle Smarter, Produce Sustainably Mechanical recycling—especially for PET, HDPE, and now PP, thanks to innovations —remains one of the most efficient and eco-friendly solutions for tackling plastic waste.
Chemical recycling, on the other hand, is still too energy-intensive and inefficient in terms of carbon footprint to be deployed at scale for most technologies. And even mechanical recycling has limitations with some plastics such as polyurethane.
The future of plastic recycling lies in better product design, advanced mechanical recycling technologies, and widespread adoption of recycled plastics across all industries.
But the real challenge is reducing our plastic consumption in the first place. Because let's be honest: the best waste is the one we never produce.
[1] https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/the-role-of-plastics-in-europe
Great work, MATERI'ACT! Turning recycled plastics into high-performance materials is a key step towards a more sustainable future. Keep up the impactful work! ♻️🌍