Plastic recycling seems heavily motivated by emotion and virtue signaling.
In reality, only about 5% of our crude oil use goes towards plastic.
If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead.
The biggest challenges with plastics are hormone disruption, and microplastics (particularly in the 3rd world without sufficient landfill or W2E infrastructure or societal environmental concern). If these new plastics are less molecularly stable, these issues may actually be worsened.
In reality, only about 5% of our crude oil use goes towards plastic.
If we rolled out EVs, and then just burned all the plastic trash (using waste-to-energy plants), we would still be far ahead.
The biggest challenges with plastics are hormone disruption, and microplastics (particularly in the 3rd world without sufficient landfill or W2E infrastructure or societal environmental concern). If these new plastics are less molecularly stable, these issues may actually be worsened.