Shell has backed away from a pledge to rapidly increase its use of “advanced recycling,” reports The Guardian. Advanced recycling involves breaking down plastic polymers into tiny molecules that can be made into synthetic fuels or new plastics. The most common form, pyrolysis, does so using heat.
Shell has invested in pyrolysis since 2019, when it first used oil made via pyrolysis at one of its Louisiana chemical plants. At the time, it began publicizing a new goal for the technology – to use 1 million tons of plastic waste a year in its global chemicals plants by 2025.
However, the company recently rolled back on its plans, as stated in a sustainability report published in March. “In 2023, we concluded that the scale of our ambition to turn 1 million tons of plastic waste a year into pyrolysis oil by 2025 is unfeasible.” Read more.
