Plastic pollution has emerged as one of the highly discussed global environmental problems recently, especially under the increasing usage during the global pandemic. The problem spans land, ocean, and air pollution via macro-, micro-, and nanoplastics. Despite the availability of different technologies to mitigate the environmental footprint of plastics and their waste, the deployment has been hampered by different challenges. The methods developed for the optimal design and operation of entire plastics value chains under the Circular Plastics Project [1] will be presented. These include machine learning and Pinch Analysis, life cycle assessments targeted for recycling and upcycling, integration of renewable resources, waste and end-of-life plastic materials, and energy implications of recycling. The preliminary results indicate maximum theoretical recycling rates of 38 % for PET, 100 % for polyethylene and 92 % for polypropylene, while accounting for energy implications can reduce these maximum values.
