Advances in Chemical Recycling of Plastic Waste for High-value Monomers and Chemicals

Polymer materials are indispensable to modern society, enabling technologies across packaging, transportation, electronics, healthcare, aerospace, and countless other sectors. However, their production relies mostly on fossil feedstocks, and most plastic products follow a linear make use dispose life cycle. With only about 9% of global plastics being recycled, the growing environmental burden and threats to resource security underscore the urgent need to transition toward a circular economy for plastics. While mechanical recycling remains the dominant strategy, its effectiveness is limited by material degradation, contamination, and the inability to handle mixed streams, thermosets, and fiber-reinforced composites. In response, recent research has rapidly expanded into chemical and biological recycling technologies, as well as the molecular design and engineering of polymers for closed-loop recovery. These emerging approaches promise to fundamentally reshape the sustainability landscape of polymer materials. This symposium will provide a platform for researchers and industry innovators to share recent progress and future directions in polymer recycling science and technology. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: 1. Innovations in chemical, including but not limited to catalytic, recycling and upcycling technologies. 2. Design of polymers for intrinsic recyclability. 3. Biological routes for polymer degradation and monomer recovery. 4. Advances in mechanical recycling and process optimization. 5. Technoeconomic, environmental, and life-cycle assessments of recycling systems. By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from academia and industry, this symposium aims to foster discussion on breakthrough strategies that close the materials loop and accelerate the realization of a sustainable polymer economy.

Hanno Erythropel, Ph.D., Yale University

Lars Ratjen

Paul Anastas, Yale University

Peter Licence, The University of Nottingham

Hanno Erythropel, Ph.D., Yale University

Lars Ratjen

Paul Anastas, Yale University

Peter Licence, The University of Nottingham