Practical ways to recycle plastic: current status and future aspects

With sky-rocketing demand and unrestricted global production, plastics have become an inseparable part of daily human life and the circular economy at large. Notwithstanding, it is crucial to consider that they lead to substantial economic losses, disrupt the ecological equilibrium, and cause environmental pollution. In this regard, several strategies have been employed in the past, such as recycling techniques, waste management systems, extended producer responsibility, reduction of incineration, plastic prohibition, and globular thinking. These methods work toward the more sustainable usage of plastics in the future, but so far, none have scaled up to the industries’ growing demands. It also reflects the current state of the art of these methods concerning the status of scientific research and gap areas in the recycling pathways. Chemical recycling seems to be one of the most efficient techniques, as it is less time consuming and the least waste is generated, but the requirement of efficient sorting makes it time consuming. While other methods generate waste and are comparatively more time consuming. Thus, each recycling method has its limitations, indicating that much work is needed to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution. In addition, in the context of the present drawbacks of the methods, this review discusses a concomitant solution to the problem of plastic pollution via sustainable development by offering an alternative to fossil fuel-based plastic materials, i.e., biodegradable plastics. Graphical abstract