Challenges and Measures for Development of Circular Use of Plastics – A Case of Gasification Process of Plastics –

Abstract

Circular use of plastics is expected to have effects on decarbonization and resource saving as well as to solve the plastic waste management issues. However, it does not actually proceed as expected due to some barriers such as （1） a technological challenge to overcome a trade-off between the scale and economic efficiency of sorting facilities of post-consumer plastics and （2） an institutional challenge to impartially evaluate and report the effects of a variety of recycling processes. In this article, a gasification process of post-consumer plastics that has been operated by Resonac Corporation over twenty years is introduced. Moreover, not limited to the gasification process, proposals are made against challenges to widely promote the circular use of plastics.