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Plastics & Rubber
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RECYCLE - Opportunities through complementary recycling technologies
Recycling technologies

Plastics & Rubber

Plastics recycling technologies explained

Understand how different technologies turn plastic waste into valuable resources.

Not all plastics can be recycled in the same way. The varying degrees of purity, compositions, and usage profiles of plastic waste require different approaches. That is why BASF relies on a technology-neutral combination of mechanical, physical, chemical, and thermochemical processes. To this end, BASF pursues the following complementary recycling pathways: back to polymer, back to monomer, and back to feedstock as well as back to biomass.

Graphic: Back to the monomer.
What happens to waste streams containing degraded plastics?
Chemical depolymerization breaks polymers down into their basic building blocks. Ideal for degrade plastics, textiles and complex composites.
  1. On depolymerization
Graphic: Back to feedstock.
Do heavily contaminated waste streams require a different solution?
Pyrolysis and gasification for mixed plastic waste. Recirculation as a secondary feedstock into the steam cracker.
  1. On pyrolysis
  2. On gasification
Circular diagram of organic recycling showing nutrient loop from agriculture and food back to biomass.
How to collect food waste and other organics seperately?
Certified compostable polymers for organic waste streams – supporting organics collection.
  1. On organics recycling