Shell quietly backs away from pledge to increase ‘advanced recycling’ of plastics

Energy giant promised to turn 1m tonnes of plastic waste into oil each year, but now says goal is unfeasible

The energy giant Shell has quietly backed away from a pledge to rapidly increase its use of advanced recycling", a practice oil and petrochemical producers have promoted as a solution to the plastics pollution crisis.

Advanced" or chemical" recycling involves breaking down plastic polymers into tiny molecules that can be made into synthetic fuels or new plastics. The most common form, pyrolysis, does so using heat.