As the world grapples with the mounting challenge of plastic waste, the recycling landscape is undergoing a transformation. While mechanical recycling has long been the go-to method, its limitations in handling complex waste streams have prompted the rise of chemical recycling – a technology that promises true circularity. Unmesh Nayak, COO – polymers at Reliance Industries, explained during his presentation at the recently concluded ElitePlus Conference that chemical recycling could be the key to closing the loop for polymers.

In the pursuit of a truly circular plastics economy, the conversation often pivots between mechanical and chemical recycling. While mechanical recycling has long been the industry’s primary approach, it faces inherent limitations – both in terms of quality and applicability. As Unmesh Nayak elaborates, “There is a limit to which you can use your mechanically recycled product.”

One of the key challenges, Nayak points out, lies in the complexity of modern packaging. “Every time, you’ll hear about multilayer and multi-polymer packaging solutions. Let’s accept the fact that these are difficult to separate,” he explains. When mixed materials enter the recycling stream, contamination becomes unavoidable, leading to impurities in the recycled output. “In flexible food packaging, for instance, the same packaging format may be used for detergents or other chemicals that are incompatible with food-grade recycling. Unless there’s a dedicated downstream process to address odour and contamination, the problem persists,” he says.

Given these limitations, Nayak believes that chemical recycling is the way forward. He explains the process in detail: “There are several technologies by which chemical recycling, or pyrolysis, is carried out. It can be a thermal cracking process at high temperatures, a catalytic pyrolysis process, or more recently, a supercritical hydrothermal liquefaction process – a technology being championed by Mura Technology.”

In essence, chemical recycling involves collecting waste polymers – primarily polyolefins like polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) – and subjecting them to pyrolysis. The process breaks down the long polymer chains into smaller hydrocarbon fractions. “These fractions are then refined into products such as naphtha, light oil, ADO fractions, and heavier oils, which are subsequently used in petrochemical plants to produce new polymers,” Nayak explains.

Reliance’s approach follows the mass balance method, certified by ISCC Plus, which ensures transparency and traceability throughout the recycling chain. “If I use 10% pyrolysis-derived oil in my cracker, I can claim only 10% of the output as circular polymer. The rest is virgin material,” Nayak clarifies. This certification process provides traceability from the point of waste collection to the final product, allowing consumers to verify the material’s origin and lifecycle simply by scanning a QR code.

According to Nayak, chemical recycling offers several distinct advantages. It can handle complex and contaminated waste streams that mechanical recycling cannot, producing polymers with properties equivalent to virgin materials. “It enables true circularity because the material is taken back to its molecular form and passes through rigorous quality controls,” he notes. Moreover, it expands the recycling scope to include previously unrecyclable materials, ensuring that “nothing goes to landfills or oceans.”

However, Nayak is equally candid about the challenges. “Currently, chemical recycling is most effective for polyolefins. Materials like PET and polycarbonate pose technical difficulties because of their condensation polymerization structure, which leads to carbon deposition during processing,” he says. Additionally, the process requires substantial capital investment and consumes more energy than mechanical recycling – though still significantly less than producing virgin polymers from fossil fuels.

Despite these hurdles, Reliance Industries has made significant strides in this domain. “We began our chemical recycling journey in 2023 and have developed CircuRepol, our circular polymer brand for polyethylene,” Nayak shares. The company envisions scaling up such initiatives to provide sustainable polymer solutions across industries, reducing environmental impact and driving India’s transition toward a circular plastics economy.

As Nayak concludes, “It’s our duty as responsible producers to get into this space and offer these solutions to customers. The path may not be easy, but chemical recycling represents the next phase of innovation for a sustainable future.”