Market Insight Beyond Oil: The Rise of the Plastics Circular Economy in the Middle East

With an aim to diversify from oil & gas – the gold of the Middle East – toward sustainability, the region is undergoing a bold and transformational shift. The plastics circular economy is one such initiative steadily gaining momentum across the Gulf. It not only addresses pressing environmental concerns but also unlocks new economic opportunities while reinforcing national visions such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the UAE’s Circular Economy Policy, and Türkiye’s National Circular Economy Strategy.

Plastics, plastics and more plastics! The world is struggling with the problem of plastic pollution and the CO2 emissions that come along with it. Today, most plastics are derived from fossil fuels, which contribute to CO2 emissions during their lifecycle, and are not easily recyclable, causing them to end up in landfills and polluting our oceans. This is where the ‘plastics circular economy’ comes in. Unlike the traditional linear model of ‘take-make-dispose’ model, a circular approach is a closed loop system which reduces waste by reusing materials, promotes sustainable design for longevity and recycles even hard-to-recycle plastics to produce new virgin plastic products. In short, the plastics circular economy relies on a combination of recycling technologies, including mechanical, dissolution, and chemical recycling.

Mechanical recycling is the most widely used process for plastic recycling and involves the processes of collection and sorting, cleaning, shredding/grinding and melting as well as remolding. This traditional process produces new products with the help of physical reprocessing of plastic waste but does not change the chemical structure of the material unlike chemical recycling.