Advanced technologies for plastic waste recycling: examine recent developments in plastic waste recycling technologies

Abstract

The escalating challenge of plastic waste necessitates innovative strategies that surpass conventional mechanical recycling. This review examines recent advancements in plastic waste recycling technologies, with a focus on three primary domains: chemical recycling, biological degradation, and enhanced sorting techniques. Chemical recycling employs depolymerization and pyrolysis to dismantle heterogeneous polymers into recoverable monomers, mitigating the constraints of mechanical methods on mixed waste streams. Biological approaches utilize enzymes and microbial consortia for environmentally benign degradation, with emerging engineered variants demonstrating efficacy across diverse polymer types. Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in sorting systems enhances separation accuracy and throughput by up to 95%. Collectively, these developments foster a robust, sustainable recycling infrastructure aligned with circular economy principles. Nonetheless, barriers such as technological scalability, economic viability, and process optimization persist. This analysis evaluates these innovations' potential to elevate recycling rates, minimize ecological harm, and promote material circularity, while delineating principal obstacles and priority areas for future investigation to facilitate commercial deployment.