Chlorinated plastics offer unique opportunities and challenges in upcycling

Chlorinated plastics are part of the everyday lives of consumers and producers alike. They can be found in buildings, automobiles, fashion, packaging and many other places. This prevalence makes them a considerable part of the plastic waste crisis. Interest in ‘upcycling’ (as opposed to recycling) has grown recently to augment the possibilities of managing plastic waste. The advances made in plastic upcycling have focused on polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polystyrene while chlorinated plastics, chiefly poly(vinyl chloride), have received much less attention. The release of chlorine-containing molecules during treatment of chlorinated plastic greatly complicates cross-method upcycling, or even the treatment of plastic mixes containing chlorinated plastics. This review presents a case for extracting value from chlorinated plastics by highlighting appealing upcycling products made owing to, or despite, the CCl bond via depolymerization, carbonization and modification. © 2024 Society of Industrial Chemistry.