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A review on sustainable energy recovery from plastic waste: Current practices, opportunities, and challenges
Summary
This review pulls together current research on turning the world's mounting plastic waste (over 400 million tons a year, with less than 15% recycled) into usable energy through methods like burning it in controlled facilities or breaking it down with heat, which can shrink waste volume by over 90%. This matters because most unrecycled plastic ends up in landfills or the environment, where it breaks down into microplastics that can enter our water, food, and bodies—so finding better ways to process this waste could mean less plastic pollution reaching us in the long run, though the technologies discussed still face real-world cost and infrastructure challenges before they're widely usable.
Significant advancements and research in garbage management as well as energy generation have been spurred by rising worldwide concern about plastic waste (PW) pollution and also its destructive effects on the environment. This thorough analysis examines the condition of managing PW for energy production today, covering a range of methods and technology. Additionally, it identifies and tackles the impending obstacles in the pursuit of well-organized and sustainable waste-to-energy enlightenments. The review highlights the crucial necessity for environmentally friendly waste management (WM) techniques while discussing the startling increase in the production of PW. According to recent figures, the world produces more than 400 million tonnes of plastic annually, yet only 9–15% of that material gets recycled; the rest is either landfilled, burned, or discharged into the environment. Recycling rates are frequently less than 10% in poorer nations due to inadequate processing equipment and poor segregation. It provides a summary of the current approaches to managing plastic trash, such as landfill disposal and chemical and, mechanical recycling. Emerging technologies that offer viable paths for turning plastic trash into useful energy resources such as gasification, pyrolysis and waste-to-energy incineration are given particular consideration. Further research shows that thermochemical conversion technologies have a high promise for sustainable waste management as well as energy generation, with energy recovery efficiencies of roughly 60–80% and a reduction in plastic waste volume of over 90%. This thorough analysis offers a useful summary of the condition of managing plastic trash for energy production at the moment. It highlights the need for environmentally friendly WM techniques and lists the possible advantages and difficulties of several plastic-to-energy systems. Society can move closer to a more sustainable future when plastic waste is effectively managed and utilized to produce clean, renewable energy by handling these challenges and adopting a comprehensive strategy.