Materials for modern living

Advanced recycling for plastics

Advanced recycling can help extend the usefulness of plastics and address the challenge of plastic waste.

What is advanced recycling?

Advanced recycling can turn more of the plastics we use every day into valuable products. The process converts plastic waste back into its molecular building blocks, which then become the raw material for making new plastics and other products. It’s a proven technology that can be used around the world, significantly improve recycling rates and support a more circular economy.

Watch the video to learn how advanced recycling works


 


"Advanced recycling and mechanical recycling are complementary. Where mechanical can have limitations on the number of times you can recycle a plastic, advanced recycling can overcome some of those challenges."

Adrian Da Costa

Global Business Development Director

Why does advanced recycling matter?

Less than 10% of plastics are recycled today. The rest is incinerated, put into a landfill, or winds up in the environment.

Advanced recycling complements mechanical recycling and helps address plastic waste by enabling the breakdown of more kinds of plastic and converting them back into the molecules needed to make new products. It’s also helping users of plastic such as packaging manufacturers, beverage companies, and restaurants meet their sustainability goals.

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data

Advanced recycling: A different way to handle used plastics

Learn more about how advanced recycling works

What we're doing now

Our large-scale advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas, has been operating since December 2022, capable of processing 80 million pounds of plastic waste per year.

This facility is already helping to meet rising demand for circularity, with sales in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Australia, among others.

We plan to increase our global capacity to 1 billion pounds per year by the end of 2026, with advanced recycling facilities in Europe, the United States, and Asia Pacific.

ExxonMobil Chemical

ExxonMobil Chemical’s mission is to provide quality chemical products and services in the most efficient and responsible manner to generate outstanding customer and shareholder value while remaining committed to the principles of sustainable development.

What we do