HOw does the temporal effect of long-term landfill emissions affect global warming impacts assessment?

The global annual demand for plastics is 400 million metric tons, and this is projected to triple by 2050. However, only 8.7% of plastics are recovered in the U.S., and the supply of reprocessed plastics only meets 6% of the demand for plastic products. Therefore, improving plastics recycling is critical to building a more circular economy. Currently, cost-effective recovery of plastics is limited by separation efficiency, contamination, and quality degradation during collection, separation, and conventional mechanical reprocessing. Chemical recycling is an emerging and potentially scalable alternative to convert waste plastics into virgin-quality resins or refinery feedstocks. Commonly discussed chemical reprocessing strategies include polymer recycling (dissolution/precipitation), monomer recycling (solvolysis and pyrolysis), and plastics-to-fuels. Chemical processes are also complementary to advance the selectiveness of polymers in mechanical recycling by extracting additives and separating different types of polymers. However, more data are needed on the economic and environmental implications of chemical recycling relative to conventional mechanical recycling before large-scale implementation begins.