Welcome to the economic future of the United States: Big Tech, Big Data, and Big Recycling. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which suggests that if America dominates the coming advanced recycling industry the way it has dominated technology, the results could be billions in economic activity and tens of thousands of jobs.
The technology needed for the advanced recycling revolution is already here, says ACC President Ross Eisenberg. What’s needed now is a new mindset. “Recycling is really manufacturing.” Instead of viewing used plastics as a problem to be solved, he argues they should be seen as a resource to be monetized.
Currently, most of the 245 plastic recycling facilities nationwide use mechanical recycling processes involving sorting, cleaning, shredding, melting, and remolding plastic. “Mechanical recycling is tried and true,” Eisenberg said, but it can’t handle many of the most common forms of plastic. “The films, the pouches, the tubes, the synthetic textiles still end up in landfills because the existing recycling infrastructure we have here in the U.S. just can’t handle them.”
That’s where advanced recycling comes in. Unlike mechanical recycling, advanced recycling breaks plastics down into gas or liquid raw materials—“reducing them back to molecules,” Eisenberg explains—which can then be turned into “brand-new plastics for use in virtually any product or packaging type, including food- and pharmaceutical-grade plastics.”
Similar to how the mining industry supplies raw materials turned into consumer products, recycling plastic into its raw form can supply industries with essential materials while removing massive amounts of plastic from the waste stream.
The private sector has embraced this concept, with billions of dollars being invested in advanced recycling technology, according to the ACC. A 2021 Government Accountability Office report praised the technology:
“Chemical recycling can produce raw materials of virgin quality, thereby decreasing demand for fossil fuels and other natural resources. Developing advanced recycling technologies could promote domestic business and employment. Chemical recycling creates a market for plastic waste and a new way to reuse some plastics.”
The ACC’s analysis suggests that widespread use of advanced recycling could create 173,200 jobs with a total annual payroll of $12.8 billion. It could also add $48.7 billion in total economic output—the combined value of goods and services produced directly and indirectly as a result.
“Essentially the same economic contributions annually as the milk industry in the United States,” Eisenberg noted.
The challenge today is no longer technology, but regulation. Eisenberg described the current political landscape as a “plethora of regulatory barriers” and urged state and federal governments to consider advanced recycling of plastics as manufacturing rather than waste incineration. Any plastic produced through this process would then be subject to recycling regulations.
“We think that would really help unlock some of the private investment that has been waiting to go,” he said.
The ACC is calling for a consistent national framework with clear standards, funding, incentives, infrastructure development, and public education. Eisenberg emphasized that such standards would support the recycling process, improve recycled materials, and promote waste reduction.
However, the plastics industry still faces skepticism from environmental groups and lawmakers. Organizations such as Greenpeace USA argue that very little plastic is actually being recycled, while the World Wildlife Fund has called for a ban on single-use plastic cups and cutlery by the end of the year. More than 500 U.S. communities have banned single-use plastic bags, with a dozen states following suit.
According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, 32% of disposable items are recycled annually. Reaching the EPA’s target of 50% recycling by 2030 will require major changes in how plastics are processed.
Critics, Eisenberg says, are stuck in the past. The plastics industry has evolved. Plastic products are now designed with “end of life” in mind from the outset of production. This approach, coupled with new technology, can promote recycling while stimulating the economy.
“Obviously, there’s an environmental component to this,” Eisenberg said. “We want to clean up the environment. But there’s also a jobs component to this, and we don’t want that to be ignored.”
*Taylor Millard writes about politics and public policy for InsideSources.com.*
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/11/09/millard-advanced-recycling-could-be-our-next-tech-boom/
