♻️🌱 Plastics Processing and Recycling - Rolbatch Academy - Webinars & Online Trainings

Asking "mechanical or chemical recycling?" puts the debate on the wrong level. No single technology is suitable for every polymer and every waste stream. Mechanical recycling generally preserves the greatest value in clean, homogeneous materials. Dissolution, depolymerisation, pyrolysis and gasification have different mechanisms, input requirements and real material yields. What matters is not the declared yield of oil or pellets, but how much waste actually returns to new polymer production, with what energy demand and product quality. These technologies should complement one another, not compete for the same feedstock.

Choosing a polymer family is only the first step. In real plastics processing, the decisive question is which specific raw material fits the product, tool, machine, throughput and quality requirements. PP, PE, ABS, PA, PC, POM, PET, PBT, PVC, PMMA, PPS or PEEK can behave very differently depending on flow, shrinkage, fillers, stabilisation and processing conditions. This article explains why material substitution should always be checked against the real process, not only against a data sheet, because the lowest price per kilogram can still create higher long-term production costs.

Chemical recycling succeeds or fails based on feedstock quality, not technology alone. It determines process stability, product quality, and profitability. Many companies wrongly assume that any waste stream is suitable, yet composition and variability can radically change outcomes. Feedstock assessment is a strategic first step and the foundation for any viable chemical-recycling project.