Nickel catalyst turns single-use plastics into oils at low heat, no sorting needed

Typically, PVC contamination poisons catalysts and derails recycling batches. But in this case, PVC actually improved performance. “Adding PVC to a recycling mixture has always been forbidden,” Kratish said. “But apparently, it makes our process even better. That is crazy. It’s definitely not something anybody expected.” Even when PVC made up a quarter of the waste mix, the catalyst kept working with better results. This unexpected resilience could allow recyclers to tackle previously “unrecyclable” plastic streams. Senior author Tobin Marks believes the breakthrough could transform recycling economics: “Our new catalyst could bypass this costly and labor-intensive step for common polyolefin plastics, making recycling more efficient, practical and economically viable than current strategies.” If scaled, the nickel catalyst process might finally offer a path toward curbing the mountain of single-use plastic waste, turning a global environmental headache into a valuable resource stream. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-catalyst-plastic-recycling-reality.html