Page 66 - Plastics News Issue October 2025

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

that can be used by industries that require them. dustries are increasingly requiring purity of over
95% in an attempt to lower their carbon foot-
Market Insights: The Economics of Smart Re- print without necessarily reducing the quality
cycling Technologies
of their products. Whether manufacturing new
An examination of the trends in the market bottles, in the automotive parts or textile sector,
shows why the smart recycling technologies are the success of the model of circular economy
getting faster in terms of investments. Recent recycling of plastics depends on the integrity of
reports state that the world market of recycling the recycled plastics.
plastic technologies will experience double-dig-
it growth in the coming decade. This growth is All innovations - NIR sensors of plastics to hy-
being driven by regulatory pressure, corporate perspectral imaging of plastic separation - are
sustainability, and demand of environmentally eventually aimed at this purpose. The capability
friendly products. to manufacture recycled materials of high qual-
ity is the key that helps to make the idea of a
Technology Adoption Rate Key Advantage plastic waste-free world a viable one.
(2025 est.)
AI-powered waste High Accuracy &
sorting adaptability The Road Ahead: What Future Awaits Plastic
Optical sorting in Very High Speed & reliability Recycling?
plastic recycling
Near-infrared (NIR) Very High Molecular-level Recycling is moving towards a trend where it is
sensors for plastics identification
done in a primitive way of sorting through it to a
Hyperspectral Medium-High Detects complex
imaging for plastic plastics high-tech dance of AI recycling sorting, robotics
separation at the recycling hub, and an automated plastic
Robotics in recycling Medium Automation & safety sorting machine. Nevertheless, the true interest
plants
Automated plastic High Integration & is in the next step. Can quantum computing be
sorting systems scalability used to identify polymers even better with the
help of deep learning? Can we, in the future, re-
These observations will lead to a competitive en- cover not only the plastics themselves but also
vironment in which recycling firms with sophisti- the additives, dyes, and embedded materials in
cated technologies will have a very high com- the plastics in future smart recycling technolo-
petitive advantage. To the policymakers and gies?
investors, the message is clear: plastic recycling
of the circular economy is not only an environ- There is one definite thing: the process of the cir-
mental duty but also an economic opportunity. cular economy plastic recycling has become not
an option, but a necessity. And with each new
High-Purity Recycled Plastics: Closing the advance in technology, we are one step nearer
Loop
to a future in which plastics are not garbage, but
The essence of all these innovations is only one a resource in an endless cycle.
thing: to attain high-purity recycled plastics that Source – Plastics Technologies
can effortlessly substitute virgin materials. In-

66 PLASTICS NEWS October 2025