Turning Plastic Waste into Valuable Chemicals

Kiran Sakeena¹, Marcelo Fossa da Paz^2*

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan.

² Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Brazil.

Submitted: 16-02-2026; Accepted: 22-05-2026; Published: 01-07-2026

 Abstract

The rapid increase in plastic production and poor quality of its disposal have become one of the major environmental issues that cause serious contamination of water and land resources. Traditional methods of handling waste such as incineration and land filling are non-suitable because of their toxic environmental effect and low efficiency. Recently, transforming discarded plastic waste into valuable chemicals has come out as one of the potential and eco-friendly methods to deal with this growing challenge. This method decreases plastic accumulation as well as allows for the recovery of valuable chemicals which can play a part in closed loop production. There are many conversion techniques such as catalytic, thermal and chemical recycling methods are also studied to convert plastic waste into valuable products such as monomers, hydrocarbons and chemicals. Catalytic process is one the methods which gained attention because of their ability to perform function under milder conditions with increase selectivity and the low energy requirements.

 Keywords: Plastic waste, catalytic pyrolysis, valuable chemicals, chemical recycling

 Review article         *Corresponding Author, e-mail: marcelopaz@ufgd.edu.br; https://doi.org/10.71111/5-26-4-4-st-5