Plastics Recycling: Using an Economic-feasibility Lens to Select the Next Moves

According to McKinsey & Company, "The worldwide crisis of plastics-waste pollution is leading to calls for action from a wide range of stakeholders, from consumers to regulators to brand owners to plastics producers. The desire to see action is easy to understand, but identifying the most effective approaches to current waste problems— and those of the future—represents a complex challenge spanning the entire plastics value chain.

This research shows that the current fragmentation of the value chain and the regional nature of waste management systems represent a further barrier to progress. This is holding back dialogue among potential value-chain partners about what needs to be fixed to speed the development of a circular economy for plastics and about trying out different approaches to achieve higher-value-creating outcomes."