Current options for characterizing, sorting, and recycling polymeric waste

Several researches and technologies on polymer recycling have been driven and justified by the uncontrolled and crescent polymer waste generation in the world. Herein, a critical and concise review on the recent and well-established recycling practices for polymer waste is presented, taking into account not only thermoplastics (or plastics) but also thermosets and elastomers. Moreover, sorting and characterization techniques for polymer waste recycling are detailed and their importance is discussed. An in-depth analysis of the literature indicated that novel and advanced recycling methods for polymeric waste (PW) present difficulties to be applied in the industrial sector, mainly the scientific innovations in the chemical recycling area. In the current scenario, new challenges for the recycling sector are linked to highly contaminated PW from electrical, electronic, and medical products.