Plastic recycling: current trends, challenges, and opportunities

Plastic is an integral part of our daily lives, offering diverse mechanical and chemical properties that make it valuable in various industries, including automotive, electronics, and packaging. Despite their widespread applications, plastic products pose a significant environmental threat due to their nondegradable nature. Without proper management, plastic waste products are currently accumulating in landfills and natural habitats. To address this environmental challenge, the plastics industry acknowledges promising approaches, particularly recycling practices, to mitigating the impact. These approaches present opportunities to decrease CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and waste disposal. The authors of this chapter compare different recycling strategies for their advantages and disadvantages. Advancements in recycling technologies and processes that involve the absorption, sorting, and reprocessing of recyclable plastics are continually evolving, opening new possibilities in recycling methods. The authors examine recent and future developments in the use and recycling of plastics, highlighting the environmental consequences of plastic waste accumulation.