Advanced Recycling Is a Modern Solution to an Old Problem

Taking plastic away wouldn’t just be inconvenient—it could make life harder in ways most of us don’t even think about.

By Sarah Rosa, Policy Director at the American Conservation Coalition

Plastic waste is a growing problem. But, conversations that begin and end with “reduce, reuse, recycle” are leaving real solutions on the table.

Most of us can agree: seeing plastic in our rivers, oceans, and forests is heartbreaking. The places we love shouldn’t be trash cans, yet plastic keeps piling up. In the United States alone, tens of millions of tons of plastic are produced each year, and less than 10% of post-consumer plastic is ever recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, is incinerated, or, all too often, finds its way into our environment, threatening the health of people, animals, and the planet.

This is a serious problem, and something needs to be done. But the solutions people talk about are often overly simplistic, like banning plastics. On paper, that might sound good, but in real life, plastic is everywhere for a reason. It keeps our food safe, helps medicines stay sterile, makes cars and electronics lighter and more efficient, and so much more. Taking plastic away wouldn’t just be inconvenient—it could make life harder in ways most of us don’t even think about.

Plastics themselves provide important benefits. What’s troubling is how easily they find their way into the natural world. If we could change that, we wouldn’t have to choose between the benefits plastic provides and protecting the places we love.

This is where advanced recycling—an innovative recycling technology—begins to change the story. Instead of treating plastic as something destined to become waste, it offers a way to start over. Through a different process, plastic can be broken down into its basic building blocks and remade into new materials. In some cases, these can approach the quality of the original plastic, though this depends on the process and type of plastic.

That matters more than it might seem. Traditional recycling does what it can, but the process often wears materials down, limiting what they can become next. A bottle might not become another bottle, and many products can’t safely be reused for purposes like food packaging or medical supplies.

Advanced recycling opens that door again, turning what was once discarded back into high-quality material that can be used where it’s needed most.

Less than 10% of post-consumer plastic waste is ever recycled in the United States. Some of that comes down to everyday realities: how people sort their waste, whether recycling is even accessible, and how complicated plastics can be to separate. But part of the challenge runs deeper: traditional recycling can only do so much. It depends on very specific types of plastic, carefully sorted and relatively clean. Anything outside of that narrow window is often left behind, with nowhere to go.

Advanced recycling can help fill those gaps. Right now, the technology is only addressing a small share of our plastic waste. But it’s still early, and as the technology grows, it has the potential to take on much more. It’s not a silver bullet, and it isn’t meant to be. But it can be an important part of a larger, more thoughtful approach to reducing plastic waste and keeping it out of the places it doesn’t belong.

Of course, like any new technology promising to tackle a big problem, advanced recycling has its skeptics. People wonder whether it’s truly viable, economical, or effective. Critics claim it’s just incineration in disguise, that it worsens climate change, or that it isn’t profitable. In reality, advanced recycling is focused on turning hard-to-recycle plastics back into high-quality materials, keeping waste out of landfills and the environment. In many cases, producing plastics from recycled waste often has a smaller carbon footprint than making them from virgin materials.

The potential is already being realized in real-world projects. Wendy’s partnered with Berry Global and LyondellBasell to create a circular supply chain expected to divert 10 million pounds of plastic in just two years, while ExxonMobil’s Baytown facility expects to recycle 80 million pounds annually into new products.

We shouldn’t stop reducing plastic use where possible, improving traditional recycling systems, or exploring alternative materials where they make sense. But, advanced recycling opens the door for more honest conversations about plastic—about how we use it, how we manage it, and how we can keep it out of the environment—without vilifying a material that makes so much of modern life possible.

Sarah Rosa is the Policy Director at the American Conservation Coalition (ACC).