Market Introduction

The global chemical recycling market was valued at USD 7.11 billion in 2024 and grew at a CAGR of 8% from 2025 to 2034. The market is expected to reach USD 15.34 billion by 2034. The growing emphasis on sustainability and environmental conservation will drive the growth of the global chemical recycling market.

Chemical recycling or advanced recycling or feedstock recycling is a group of new technologies aimed at converting plastic waste back into its original chemical feedstock. Mechanical recycling implies the cleansing, shredding, and remodelling of plastics by preserving the chemical compositions of these materials as they are without any further chemical interactions. In contrast, chemical recycling breaks down polymers into monomers or other fundamental chemicals. These may then be repolymerized into new plastics or turned into fuels, waxes, or other useful industrial feedstocks. The approach is critical in addressing the shortcomings of conventional recycling. Most of the plastics, in particular the multilayer packaging, contaminated or coloured plastics, and thermosets are not mechanically recyclable as they are structurally complex. Chemical recycling will solve the dilemma because these difficult-to-recycle types of plastic will be converted through the chemical recycling process and will increase the volume of plastic that can be landed out to avoid landfills and fires. Chemical recycling technologies come in a variety of forms, for example pyrolysis (thermal decomposition under proceeds of oxygen), gasification (waste to syngas), depolymerization (polymers to monomers) and solvent-based purification. Among the major advantages of chemical recycling, its outputs are said to be of the same quality as virgin materials, referring to circular economy objectives.

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Recent Development

• In Connersville, Indiana, NOVA Chemicals Corporation ('NOVA Chemicals') announced the opening of "SYNDIGO1," its first polyethylene (PE) film recycling facility.  The facility is among the biggest and most advanced mechanical recycling facilities for plastic film in the world.  Over 100 million pounds of SYNDIGOTM recycled PE (rLLDPE), appropriate for both food-grade and non-food packaging applications, will be produced by recycling 145,000 bales of end-of-life plastic film at SYNDIGO1, a 450,000 square foot facility.  By early 2026, full production is anticipated.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

The growing emphasis on sustainability and environmental conservation – The expanding desire of the chemical and plastic manufacturing industries to embrace the idea of using circular economy is driving the market’s growth. The key players in the industry are in pursuit of other options that could enable them to have closed circuits where waste products are transformed into raw materials of high quality. The chemical recycling helps further the virgin-quality products can be used in the same high-value activities like food packaging, car parts, and consumer products. Moreover, firms are coming under pressure to meet corporate sustainability goals and meet the regulatory compliance aspects concerning recycled content. Chemical recycling can help plug the gap that mechanical recycling has been unable to in many cases meet the required quality or quantity levels. Companies, particularly those in industries such as FMCG and packaging are taking advantage of chemical recycling in order to reach ambitious recycled content targets.

Restraints

Technical and operational limitations – The first among the key limitations lies in the fact that to implement chemical recycling, large amounts of capital are demanded to build factories of this type, and overall costs of operation that include the costs of the utilization of energy, maintenance requirements, and complex processing devices are very high. These economic considerations also preclude the entry of smaller players into the market and also make such projects overall economically unviable unless it is heavily subsidized or through some sort of partnership. Moreover, most of the chemical recycling methods are at their initial stage of development or pilot stage, and have not achieved a stable level of performance at commercial rates. This low level of technological maturity discourages the scalability and benefit of investment. In addition, certain chemical recycling techniques lead to low conversion rates of the materials or production of secondary pollutants, which undermine sustainability assertions and process effectiveness. Chemical recycling has more than once become entangled in logistical complexities associated with the collection, separation and pre-treatment of waste in contrast to mechanical recycling, which is both easier and entrenched.

Opportunities

Regulatory pressure – Governments all over the world are introducing crackdowns in order to prevent plastic pollution and ensure sustainable waste management. Strict recycled content policies, prohibition of single-use plastics, and some forms of landfilling or incineration of a specified type of plastic is driving industries to consider advanced recycling. Ways that can be used to address these legal demands is through chemical recycling since it is able to recycle plastics that cannot undergo a mechanical recycling process effectively. Meanwhile, an increasing level of environmental awareness among politicians, corporations and individuals is causing a powerful backlash toward more sustainable options. The plastic waste predicament captivating the entire world through clogged garbage dumps, plastic wandering in the seas, and the impact of carbon emissions has testified to the insufficiency of the regular recycling processes. Chemical recycling is the way in which reliance on fossil fuels, as well as reducing the impact of plastic waste on the environment, is growing in the way of a genuine recovery and utilization of materials.

Segment Analysis

Regional segmentation analysis

The regions analyzed for the market include North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Europe emerged as the most significant global chemical recycling market, with a 36% market revenue share in 2024.

Europe has the leading role in the worldwide chemical recycling market because it has progressive environmental policies and effective regulatory solutions. European Union has adopted ambitious laws like the European Green Deal, EU Plastics Strategy and Circular Economy Action Plan establishing ambitious targets, with respect to decreasing the amount of plastic waste, increasing the rate of recycling and incorporating recycled material in new products. This policy action has formed a conducive atmosphere regarding the emergence and use of innovative recycling methods such as chemical recycling. Moreover, developed waste management network in Europe, as well as commitment to sustainability, has allowed efficient collection, sorting and processing of plastic waste - the basic requirements in the context of chemical recycling. National investments in chemical re-processing and recycling are also abundant and many pilot and commercial-scale chemical recycling projects call the region home. Moreover, European consumers and companies are quite environmentally aware, and the need to use sustainable materials and circular solutions is quite high, especially in such sectors as the packaging industry, automotive, and consumer goods.

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Technology type Segment Analysis

The technology type segment is divided into pyrolysis, gasification, depolymerization and solvent-based processes. The pyrolysis segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 40% in 2024. Pyrolysis has played the main position in the worldwide chemical recycling market because of the immense freedom in technology, scalability and capacity to handle mixed and polluted plastic waste that mechanical methods of recycling cannot receive. Pyrolysis is a type of thermal decomposition, without using oxygen, of a long-chain polymer and decomposes into shorter technology, or rather, hydrocarbon, molecules. The products usually come out to be pyrolysis oil (also called as synthetic crude), syngas, and char, although the most valuable is the pyrolysis oil. Such oil can be reduced into fuel or be converted into a feedstock to produce new virgin-quality plastics, which essentially contribute to a cyclic economy. The ability of pyrolysis to work with popular plastics such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) that are common materials in packaging waste, is one of the major factors that render the technology dominant. Moreover, the fact that pyrolysis technology is relatively less mature than other means of chemical recycling, including depolymerization or gasification, has resulted in its fast commercialization. Some international companies and start-ups are betting on mammoth-scale pyrolysis plants as it has already proved to be possible and the market is expanding further in the need of circular feedstocks. In addition, the flexibility of the process enables a decentralized or modular plant configuration, which is tailored to local wastes and local regulations.

• With significant expenditures and a thorough sustainability plan, AT&S has been attempting for years to lessen the environmental impact of its production facilities across the globe.  Significant success is currently being achieved by the technical upgrading of the wastewater and waste treatment plants at the sites: 268 tonnes of copper, 170 kilogrammes of gold, 35 kilogrammes of palladium, 16 kilogrammes of silver, 284,000 litres of iron (III) chloride, and 984,000 litres of hydrochloric acid have been recycled worldwide in the fiscal year 2024–2025 alone.

Plastic type Segment Analysis

The plastic type segment is divided into polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and others. The polyethylene (PE) segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 38% in 2024. Polyethylene (PE) has taken the centre stage in chemical recycling in the global chemical recycling market because of the scale at which it has production activities which are large, its extensive use across sectors, and its high portion in post-consumer plastics waste. Polyethylene being the most common plastic in use throughout the world is found in the forms of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and in low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which have been highly used in packaging materials, shopping bags, containers, films and bottles. Such wide consumption leads to a large volume of waste, making PE one of the key candidates in terms of recycling, in particular, chemical one. Further enhancing the pre-eminence of polyethylene is the fact that once contaminated, multilayered or mixed with other materials, this substance is very hard to recycle by methods that rely on mechanical recycling, which is common among packaging films and flexible wraps. Also, the comparatively simple architecture of polymer makes PE prone to chemical recycling operations, in particular, to thermal techniques of decomposition. As the prime feedstock, polyethylene is the major driving force behind the development and commercial attractiveness of the chemical recycling technologies especially in the packaging and consumer-related goods industries due to its market share dominance in both the volume of production and waste.

• It has been announced that Xycle, a trailblazing business dedicated to promoting a circular economy for plastic through chemical (sometimes referred to as advanced) recycling technology, has successfully obtained funding to build its first commercial-scale facility.  The company's goal of turning plastic trash into useful raw materials has reached a major turning point.  The secured funds include a mix of senior loans from Polestar Capital and equity investments from a group of investors, including Dow, ING, Invest-NL (which is partially covered by InvestEU), and Vopak.  With the help of this finance, Xycle plans to support the building of a flagship recycling facility in the Port of Rotterdam, a key international entry point to Europe.

End-use industry Segment Analysis

The end-use industry segment is divided into packaging, automotive, building & construction, textiles, electronics and others. The packaging segment dominated the market, with a market share of around 36% in 2024. The packaging market controlled the global chemical recycling market because of sheer volume of packaging wastes generated in the world as well as the limited recyclability of such packaging wastes using mechanical processes available. The strong relationship of packaging sector, especially in food, retail, and consumer items industry with plastics such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and multi-layer films, is because of its lightweight, flexibility, and durability features. Most of these materials, and in particular, flexible packaging, multilayer wrapping, and soiled films cannot be recycled mechanically since most of them are easily broken down, poorly sortable, and tend to have additives or blended polymers. The advantage of chemical recycling to solve this problem is, it compounds these complex packaging plastics into their chemical components and thus, the quality of output after recycling becomes high. This is why it is interesting to use it in packaging, where purity and performance of the material is of great importance. Chemical recycling has also emerged to benefit brands and manufacturers hoping to realize recycled content goals, minimize their carbon footprint and stay in line with government-imposed limitations on single-use plastics and the production of a more sustainable environment through extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs.

• At its complex in Nashik, India, Revalyu Resources, which employs a chemical recycling process based on glycolysis, has put into service a second polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling facility.  Up to 175 tonnes of PET flakes and pellets can be produced daily at the Nashik plant thanks to its ability to recycle over 20 million used PET bottles daily.  According to Revalyu, which is partially owned by the Heraeus Group of Germany, customers use the rPET produced to meet their sustainability goals in a variety of applications from industries like PET bottles, packaging materials, textiles, car accessories, and a wide range of other PET co-polymer-based products.

Some of the Key Market Players

• Agilyx
• BASF
• Brightmark
• Carbios
• Eastman Chemical Company
• ExxonMobil
• Loop Industries
• LyondellBasell
• Mura Technology
• Plastic Energy
• Pyrowave
• Quantafuel

Report Description