HÜRTH, Germany—Chemical and physical recycling play essential roles in realizing the objectives of the Green Deal and advancing the circular economy, according to the Renewable Carbon Initiative’s (RCI) latest position paper titled, Home - Goals and Vision of the Renewable Carbon Initiative. RCI advocates for a pragmatic approach, emphasizing that while closed-loop recycling is a noble goal for sectors such as packaging, textiles and automobiles, it should not be approached too dogmatically. Flexibility is essential to prevent environmental and economic inefficiencies, RCI said.

The group, which employs a novel approach to breaking the dependence on fossil fuels, identifies 11 requirements to create secure demand, drive investment and further improve the technology field. These requirements include the following:

● General acceptance of the technology.
● Mandatory recycled content for all polymers/plastics in all applications.
● Recognition and clarification of rules for the calculation of recycling rates.
● Full acceptance of mass balance and attribution with fuel-use excluded.
● Accelerated approval of new chemical and physical recycling facilities.
● Expansion of recycling infrastructure for all sectors beyond packaging.
● The extension of CO2 pricing for waste incineration combined with a landfill ban. 

Chemical and physical recycling are emerging as key technologies and critical components of comprehensive carbon management, according to RCI. The group believes that carbon management goes beyond the reduction of CO2 emissions, their capture and long-term storage. It decouples the entire industry from fossil feedstocks from the ground, eliminates the use of fossil carbon wherever possible and allocates renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling as efficiently and effectively as possible, where carbon use is unavoidable, such as chemicals and plastics, the group said.

Read the full position paper here.