At a recycling plant in Swindon, 80 miles west of London, an experiment to turn used plastics into oil is under way. If successful, the portable “chemical recycling” plants used in the process — designed to fit into shipping containers — will one day be sold worldwide.
Some 350m tonnes of plastic a year are produced globally, with production forecast to triple by 2050 and account for a fifth of global oil consumption, according to research company Statista.
Driven by pressure to cut the world’s reliance on finite fossil fuels, chemical recycling pioneers hope that producing oil from plastic waste will provide an alternative source of hydrocarbons.