How Did The Trillion-level Waste Plastic Chemical Recycling Market Develop?

Chemical recycling originated in the 1960s, and its development has experienced from the initial drive of energy substitution to the drive of environmental protection, and then to the policy support of various countries driven by international political consensus, making PCR plastics from the past due to uneconomical and no market to now become a multinational chemical industry. Important strategies and KPIs for , packaging and branding businesses.

International organization promotes chemical recycling

International institutions and NGOs have carried out a lot of technical research, concept propaganda and financial support in terms of the current situation, development laws and coping strategies of plastic pollution. For example, the World Wide Fund for Nature released "Solving the Problem of Plastic Pollution through Accountability", the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched the "Global Commitment to a New Plastic Economy", the World Bank gave green credit and financial support to the government and companies that solve plastic waste, All of them have promoted technological progress and market presentation from different levels.

In 2018, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation cooperated with the United Nations Environment Programme to launch the "Global Commitment to the New Plastics Economy". , universities, industry associations, investors and other organizations.

The signing of the Global Commitment has transformed the circular economy of plastics from a do-it-yourself concept into a performance indicator for both the corporate sustainability sector and the product sector, driving a dramatic increase in market demand for PCR plastics.

Countries reach consensus on tackling plastic pollution

World political leaders have reached consensus on the serious harm of plastic pollution, and many countries have reached many international conventions on plastic pollution control. In September 2015, more than 150 world leaders attended the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, and 193 member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and proposed 17 sustainable development goals, 3 of which involved plastic pollution. Plastic pollution has become a global environmental problem as important as climate change, ozone depletion, and biodiversity loss.

This is the first time world political leaders have reached consensus on plastic pollution. Since then, the issue of plastic pollution has received international attention. In the World Economic Forum in Davos, the United Nations General Assembly, the G7 summit, and important international organizations and conferences, concepts and conventions such as "plastic circular economy", "Marine Plastics Charter", etc. have been put forward. Plastic pollution control has become a global consensus.

Policies and laws encourage the use of PCR

Many countries and regions have formulated policies and laws to deal with plastic pollution, encouraged plastic recycling and the use of PCR plastics, and promoted technological progress and market expansion. The European Union took the lead in promulgating the European Plastics Strategy in a Circular Economy in January 2018, proposing the goals of a circular economy for plastics:

① By 2030, all plastic packaging on the EU market can be reused or recycled in a cost-effective manner;

② Call on all stakeholders to make voluntary commitments to ensure that new products in the EU market contain 10 million tons of recycled plastics by 2025; At least 50% of plastic packaging is to be recycled, and by December 31, 2030, at least 55% of plastic packaging is to be recycled, and it is stipulated that recycling does not include incineration and landfill.

③ In addition, European countries have also introduced tax laws that are conducive to promoting PCR plastics. For example, the UK plastic packaging tax will be implemented on April 1, 2022, and a tax of £200 per ton will be levied on packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic. .

Multinationals invest heavily in chemical recycling

Under the support of policies and the huge market demand of packaging and brand giants, multinational companies, mainly chemical giants, have invested heavily in chemical recycling:

International chemical giants have become the most active promoters of PCR plastics. The main reasons are:

①In order to fulfill the promise of a certain percentage of PCR components in plastic packaging, the sustainable development department and purchasing department of the brand giant need to look for the source of PCR plastic on a global scale, and pass the pressure to the upstream packaging enterprises, and the packaging enterprises pass the pressure to the upstream. Chemical enterprises, if chemical enterprises do not have PCR plastic production capacity, it is difficult to meet customer needs;

②More than 40 multinational companies with chemical giants such as LyondellBasell, SABIC, BASF, Shell, Dow, and ExxonMobil as their main members have established the "Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)", with a commitment to invest 1.5 billion US dollars. Helping to end plastic waste in the environment, while committing to deliver PCR plastic to our customers. Establishing and expanding PCR plastic production capacity and industrial chain has become an important strategy for chemical giants in recent years.

③ However, chemical companies have few reserves of chemical recycling technologies and projects. In order to stably serve existing customers during the sustainable transition period and open up new markets for sustainable resins, chemical companies are actively investing in or integrating PCR plastic technologies and projects. In addition, brands and packaging companies are actively investing in or partnering with chemical recycling companies to fulfill their global commitments while obtaining PCR plastic capacity at reasonable prices

Looking back at the development of the waste plastics chemical recycling market, several conclusions can be drawn:

1. The driving force of technological development is driven from the initial energy substitution to environmental protection, and then to the international political consensus to drive the policy support of various countries, providing impetus for technology research and development and investment capacity;

2. The participants have developed from the initial scientific researchers, a few chemical companies and chemical recycling entrepreneurs to the current mainstream multinational chemical, packaging and brand companies and NGOs actively participating. The development of chemical recycling resin products has become an important strategy for many companies. And the huge market demand has been formed;

3. China has started the practice of chemical recycling, and the development potential is huge, but it will take time for the large-scale development of the industry.

4. Through cooperation with chemical recycling companies, multinational chemical companies are rapidly deploying production capacity, but it will take time to develop large-scale production capacity, and technology and production capacity will still be scarce in the short term.