Most European countries are heading in the wrong direction of waste plastic management. Instead of working on improving the level of recycling, a significant part of them, in some countries as much as 70-80%, is irretrievably lost in incinerators.
The growing number of thermal waste treatment installations is expected to contribute to the change of the currently dominant method of waste disposal which is their storage. This change, however, often occurs at the expense of recycling levels, which means that it does not bring the intended benefits because:
- burning plastic generates almost 3 times more greenhouse gas emissions than recycling,
- recycling activity is able to create 10 to 20 times more jobs compared to waste incineration plants,
- incinerators are one of the most expensive methods of energy production and waste disposal, the cost of the new plant is from 150 to 230 million dollars,
- incineration plants process materials that are 90% recyclable or compostable.
In addition, up to 20% of the energy contained in waste plastics can be recovered in waste incineration plants. This amount is insignificant compared to the pyrolysis process, on which Petrel technology is based, thanks to which up to 90% of energy contained in waste can be recovered.
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