AMI report places chemical recyclers within value chain context

AMI, headquartered in Bristol, England, has published its second report on the global chemical recycling industry, titled “Chemical Recycling, Global Status 2022,” which provides a global directory of 181 chemical recyclers and their 449 sites, including information on existing and planned capacities to 2030, technologies used, types of postuse plastics processed, feedstock sources and sourcing models, operational details and outputs of the chemical recycling process.

AMI says its report places chemical recyclers within a value chain context, with the interactive report format mapping industry relationships across the value chain. This allows users to gain a clear understanding of the developing partnerships and interactions within the industry and across the wider petrochemical and plastics processing landscape, according to AMI.

The report also explains chemical recycling technologies and concepts of key importance for the industry, such as the mass balance approach, and delves into the key issues of potential competition of chemical recycling with mechanical recycling and feedstock sourcing. An overview of regional differences in waste management, collection and sorting illustrates the potential for the development of the industry in 10 global regions.

According to the report, the global chemical recycling industry has an input capacity of approximately 1.2 million metric tons as of 2022, excluding facilities processing postuse plastics into fuels. Europe is at present considered to be at the forefront of technological developments in chemical recycling, AMI says, noting that developments in North America are forecast to accelerate at a faster pace in the coming years.

Approaching the last quarter of 2022, the chemical recycling industry has reached a significant point, AMI says, with the first commercially active facilities operating and a significant number of plants scheduled to start fully commercial operations imminently and during 2023. Even larger capacities are in the pipeline and scheduled to become operational during the forecast period to 2030, according to the report.

Supply chain partners and investors are eager to see if facilities can operate in an efficient and financially viable manner in the long term, with AMI noting that evidence that they can do so remains to be seen in many cases. The same applies to claims relating to carbon footprints, energy efficiency, risks to human health and environmental externalities.

A recent report produced by City College of New York Grove School of Engineering states that advanced, or chemical, recycling helps avoid climate impacts, reduces demand for energy resources and offers key tools for expanding the circular economy.

AMI notes that a particular concern is that investments could potentially divert attention away from reducing virgin plastic production and end-of-life plastic generation by creating a “lock-in effect” to an industry and supply chain that relies on a growing stream of postuse plastic for its operations. Many nongovernmental organizations have been critical of the technology, referring to it as greenwashing.

AMI notes in a news release about the report’s publication: “It is for the chemical recycling industry to show, verified by independent third-party bodies, that it can deliver on its claims and promises without creating these lock-in effects, and by operating as a complementary technology to mechanical recycling, itself an industry characterized by innovations and advancements for the processing of a growing range of postuse plastics.”