The future of plastic recycling may soon get much less complicated, frustrating and tedious. “One of the biggest hurdles in plastic recycling has always been the necessity of meticulously sorting plastic waste by type,” said Northwestern’s Tobin Marks, the study’s senior author. That’s why we’re interested in Earth-abundant metals.”For its polyolefin recycling catalyst, the Northwestern team pinpointed cationic nickel, which is synthesized from an abundant, inexpensive and commercially available nickel compound. Upon decomposition, PVC releases hydrogen chloride gas, a highly corrosive byproduct that typically deactivates catalysts and disrupts the recycling process. This unexpected result suggests the team’s method might overcome one of the biggest hurdles in mixed plastic recycling — breaking down waste currently deemed “unrecyclable” due to PVC contamination.