Abstract: The accumulation of waste plastics in landfills and the natural environment is now well recognized as a global pollution crisis. Moreover, plastics manufacturing is estimated to account for 20% of fossil carbon consumption by 2050. Among the portfolio of solutions to mitigate the plastics waste problem, catalysis-enabled chemical recycling is a promising approach to enable a circular materials economy for synthetic polymers.

This talk will review our recent efforts in biological and chemical catalysis for chemical recycling. Examples of techno-economic and materials flow analyses will also be highlighted as a means to focus research efforts towards realistic process development.