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Informational film on plastics recycling

The Circular Valley Initiative documentary ‘Two paths. One goal’ aims to highlight specific solutions and provide insights into forward-looking recycling solutions.
 

How exactly do mechanical and chemical recycling processes for plastics work? How can they complement each other? These questions are addressed in an information film by the Circular Valley Initiative, which aims to establish the Rhine-Ruhr region as a global centre for the circular economy. To mark World Environment Day on 5 June 2025, which was themed ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’, the Circular Valley Foundation published the 12.5-minute film on YouTube. It addresses the question of how plastic waste can be better recycled and turned into new, high-quality raw materials, how plastics are currently recycled, and how new methods could overcome existing obstacles. Circular Valley emphasises that a combination of effective processes is needed to achieve the goal of a circular economy for plastics. Experts such as Jörg Deppmeyer, Managing Director of Der Grüne Punkt, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller-Kirschbaum, Chief Scientist at the Circular Valley Foundation, explain what they believe is important in the documentary. Mechanical recycling is suitable for single-type plastic waste, according to the film. However, these processes have their limits, especially when the waste is heavily mixed or contaminated. When recycling non-single-type plastic waste, alternative technologies such as solvent-based recycling processes or chemical recycling (depolymerisation, pyrolysis, gasification) could then supplement mechanical recycling.
 
Sources:

  • Press release Cirular Valley (5.6.2025)
  • Image: © Circular Valley

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