It will in all probability take till 2024 for the treaty to be accomplished, and we don’t know all the small print but, although there’s been talk of production limits, in addition to extra restrictions on what can go into plastics. But limits on how a lot plastic nations produce in all probability gained’t be sufficient to unravel the issue. 

Finding methods to reinvent plastic recycling might additionally play an enormous function in reducing down on plastic’s damaging impacts. 

Most plastic recycling immediately depends on thermal and mechanical strategies—mainly melting down plastics and reforming them. This works effectively in some instances, however can result in a lower-quality product than what you began with. 

That’s why virtually no plastic water bottles that do get collected for recycling are made into new water bottles. Instead, the small fraction that do find yourself getting recycled are usually used to make different merchandise, like carpets. 

New approaches like chemical and organic recycling might repair a few of these issues. For instance, final 12 months I wrote a few French firm known as Carbios, which is engaged on using microbes to recycle the plastic in water bottles, PET. If the strategy winds up being economical, it might assist extra bottles get recycled again into bottles. 

But that course of gained’t work for all plastics. That brings us to chemical recycling, an enormous umbrella time period for a wide range of completely different recycling approaches. 

One of essentially the most fascinating areas in chemical recycling to me is mixed-feed recycling: the place completely different plastics could be dealt with with one course of. Plastics that go to a recycling facility immediately are separated earlier than going by way of processing, as a result of your water bottle wants a special remedy out of your milk jug.