The environmental case for advanced recycling

At the present time, our society cannot sustain itself without plastic. Yet, there are several environmental risks associated with plastic production and pollution. The production of plastic from crude oil has detrimental environmental impacts, and most of the plastic waste generated worldwide cannot be recycled through traditional methods.

Advanced recycling offers a green solution to the plastic waste crisis, and a globally attainable pathway to net zero. In an October 2022 report, scientists from The City College of New York Grove School of Engineering concluded that advanced recycling:

• produces plastic with a reduced global warming potential compared to products derived from virgin resources;
• reduces the need for fossil energy resources by up to 97% compared to landfilling; and
• reduces GHG emissions by more than 100% compared to typical end-of-life processes, when accounting for displaced demand for chemical products and energy.

Freepoint Eco-Systems’ plastics-to-plastics technologies empower companies and communities to minimize waste in a collective effort towards a circular plastics lifecycle. With the ultimate goal to secure a more sustainable future, we’ve committed our facilities and processes to a core set of environmental goals:

1.     Preserving Earth’s nonrenewable resources

Fossil fuels are a key building block of virgin plastic, and fossil fuel extraction comes at a severe environmental cost. By all projections, global consumption of plastic will continue to increase. Since the turn of the millennium, global plastic production has more than doubled. In the next 20 years, plastic production could consume up to 20% of global oil supply, accounting for 15% of our annual carbon emissions budget.

As much as 7.7 million barrels of oil production per day can be avoided by deploying both advanced and mechanical recycling along with other consumption reduction measures. Those figures equate to a 43% reduction in oil consumption over the next three decades. Industry leaders are also exploring the use of renewable energy to power advanced recycling facilities, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2.     Diverting plastic from landfill and incineration

Plastic waste disposal methods impose significant risks for communities and ecosystems, as the majority of plastic waste in the U.S. ends up in landfills or incinerators. Landfill space is finite, and dumping waste introduces microplastics and other chemicals into the soil and groundwater. Landfilling and incinerating plastic also emit harmful volumes of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

Freepoint Eco-Systems’ facilities have the projected capacity to recycle approximately 90,000 tons of waste plastic per year. Of this waste, an estimated 70-90% would have been destined for landfill, and 15-30% would have been incinerated.

3.      Reducing emissions

Employing every cost-efficient, environmentally beneficial option for waste management and recovery is critical to reducing carbon emissions. Recycling plastic through both advanced and mechanical processes requires far less energy (and far less associated GHG production) than producing new plastic from fossil fuels.

EcoEngineers, an independent consulting firm, determined that Freepoint Eco-Systems’ advanced recycling technology reduces GHG emissions by the following amounts:

• 90% compared to oil-based plastic that would have been incinerated;
• 31% compared to oil-based plastic that would have been disposed of at national incineration and landfilling rates; and
• 16% compared to oil-based plastic that would have been landfilled.

4.     Minimizing pollution

Advanced recycling turns hard-to-recycle and end-of-life plastics into fully usable materials that can be recycled indefinitely. This process eliminates air, soil, and water pollution at the plastic production and disposal stages, transforming a once-linear process into a truly circular, sustainable solution to address the plastic waste crisis.

In a 2021 study, Good Company determined that a 55,000-ton advanced recycling facility creates very few hazardous air pollutants and generates overall emissions lower than an average hospital or college campus.

By capturing more plastics once destined for disposal, advanced recycling also keeps waste out of our land and oceans, safeguarding environmental and human health from plastic pollution and degradation into invasive microplastics.

5.     Water conservation

The environmental benefits of advanced recycling extend beyond reduced oil consumption. The production of virgin plastic is also a water-intensive process. By generating recycled oil out of plastic waste to create new plastic products and packaging, Freepoint’s processes reduce water consumption by up to 60% compared to manufacturing plastics using fossil oil-based feedstocks.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling each play a key role in addressing the global plastics problem. In all cases, recycling waste to create new plastic is far better for the environment than landfilling, incinerating, or using virgin fossil resources to create new plastic.

Through a holistic approach, plastic producers, recyclers, and consumers around the world can redefine the plastic lifecycle, conserve our resources, and reduce carbon emissions and pollution.

Visit us at freepointecosystems.com to learn more about how you can join Freepoint’s mission to protect the environment from plastic waste.