Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 13: Advanced Recycling: Potential, Controversy, and the Future of Plastics (Part 1)
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
13: Advanced Recycling: Potential, Controversy, and the Future of Plastics (Part 1)
Despite decades of effort, only about 9% of plastic waste is successfully recycled. The vast majority ends up in landfills or incinerators. In Part 1 of this two-part episode of “The Energy Forum,” Rachel Meidl is joined by Marco Castaldi, professor of chemical engineering at the City College of New York, to unpack the complex world of advanced recycling, also known as chemical or molecular recycling.
They discuss what advanced recycling actually is, how it differs from traditional mechanical recycling, and why it’s become such a hot topic globally, plus:
This conversation was recorded on July 7, 2025.
Follow Rachel Meidl, LP.D., CHMM on X (@MeidlRachel) and LinkedIn.
You can follow @BakerInstitute and @CES_Baker_Inst on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.
View all episodes
By Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public PolicyDespite decades of effort, only about 9% of plastic waste is successfully recycled. The vast majority ends up in landfills or incinerators. In Part 1 of this two-part episode of “The Energy Forum,” Rachel Meidl is joined by Marco Castaldi, professor of chemical engineering at the City College of New York, to unpack the complex world of advanced recycling, also known as chemical or molecular recycling.
They discuss what advanced recycling actually is, how it differs from traditional mechanical recycling, and why it’s become such a hot topic globally, plus:
This conversation was recorded on July 7, 2025.
Follow Rachel Meidl, LP.D., CHMM on X (@MeidlRachel) and LinkedIn.
You can follow @BakerInstitute and @CES_Baker_Inst on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.