Over the years many companies have attempted to solve the vexing problem of plastic recycling. For a very long time, a physical or mechanical recycling process has been the norm. This involves extensive washing, sorting, grinding, and melting to create a homogenous plastic recyclate that can then be used to make more plastic products. The system is inefficient, largely due to the intense sorting and pre-processing needed, the limited types of plastic that can be recycled, and the inadequacy and inconsistency of the recycled product.
Among more advanced recycling processes, pyrolysis is the most common. Reuters took a look at 30 projects around the world and found failure after failure. Most of the projects examined by Reuters use pyrolysis as the catalyst for the recycling process. Pyrolysis involves the application of intense heat to break down plastic into its molecular components. Pyrolysis projects have been proposed and scrapped over the past 20 years due to technical and commercial limitations. Regardless, companies keep trying to make it viable.
Even if pyrolysis were proven to work, there would be high carbon emissions from the process and the large amount of energy required to fuel the system. Even more energy and resources are required because pyrolysis oil requires extensive post-production hydrotreatment (molecular hydrogen) to make it suitable for the manufacture of new plastic. Countries also want to achieve net zero emissions, so the best possible solutions would be more efficient and less energy-intensive than current iterations.
Here we take a look at a video that covers the plastic recycling technology landscape and identifies one company that stands out from the rest: Aduro Clean Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ADUR) (CSE: ACT) (FSE: 9D5). Aduro’s Hydrochemolytic™ technology is a water-based chemical process capable of recycling and upgrading almost any type of plastic. Compared to competing technologies, Aduro’s process is touted as a less expensive, more efficient, lower emission, and highly scalable solution.
Here is the video, we’ll summarize a bit below:
The video puts existing and recently-failed companies into categories and discusses the issues with each.
PET Companies
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the clear plastic that makes beverage bottles. Mechanical recycling actually does a pretty good job with this as long as the feedstock is clean and pure. It is the most commonly recycled type of plastic. Some companies have endeavored to improve on the process, but none are profitable and they offer no discernible advantage over mechanical recycling. Loop Industries (Nasdaq: LOOP), Jeplan, Revalyu Resources, Carbios (ALCRB.PA), Samsara Eco, Eastman Chemical Company, Ambercycle are covered in this section of the video.
Pyrolysis Companies
We touched on the shortcomings of pyrolysis above.
Companies covered in the video: Agilyx (OTC: AGXXF), Prime N.V., PlasCred Circular (CSE:PLAS), Quantafuel (acquired by Viridor), Brightmark, Pyrowave, ChemCycling (BASF), Plastic Energy, Exxtend (Exxon Mobil), LyondellBasell, Nexus Circular, Alterra Chemical, BlueAlp.
Companies That “Recycle” But Don’t Use Chemical Recycling
These companies use oils and solvents to clean and dissolve plastic into smaller components of the same material, similar in a more elegant way to traditional mechanical recycling. They are limited to very particular types of plastic. They offer solutions to a fairly narrow market and have not been shown to be commercially viable to this point. Polystyvert handles polystyrene, while PureCycle Technologies (PCT) handles polypropylene.
Special Cases
These companies are all unique but bound by either failure or a small addressable niche market. Cielo Waste Solutions already failed to succeed in a larger diverse addressable market. The company made diesel that had sulphur they couldn’t remove, rendering it useless. Novoloop upgrades waste polyehtylene into thermoplastic polyurethane, a flexible coating used in footwear and medical devices. Aquafil (ECNL.MI) works with nylon only, owned by a large nylon manufacturer that provides the profit. GreenMantra Technologies is turning waste plastic through depolymerization into specialty waxes in a profitable but limited market.
Unproven Tech with More Promise
Mura Technology uses super high pressure/heat water to crack plastic into pyrolysis-like oil that likely needs hydrotreatment and aftertreatment using very specialized and expensive equipment to handle pressure and corrosion. The company has high hurdles to execution but there is hope for its unique solution.
Aduro’s Solution
Aduro Clean Technologies is trying to change this long history of failure. Its Hydrochemolytic™ technology (HCT) uses water‑based chemistry at comparatively moderate temperatures to break down mixed, contaminated plastics into liquid hydrocarbons that can be fed back into existing plastic-producing steam crackers that typically run on fossil‑derived naphtha. Independent pilot‑scale trials have shown that HCT‑derived “Hydrochemolytic Oil” can be processed as produced, with little or no costly post‑treatment, while delivering stable furnace operation and olefin yields comparable to conventional fossil feedstocks. If HCT can be proven at commercial scale, it offers a plausible pathway to genuine circularity: using the global plastic‑making footprint already in place, but feeding it with recycled molecules instead of crude oil.
In 2026, Aduro looks set to transition from “promising tech story” to a company with hard performance data and visible commercial pathways. For investors, the coming year should be about watching how HCT performs under continuous operation, how the company develops its first demonstration plant, and how collaborations like its landmark Mexico ECOCE deal develop into concrete business models.
The diversity and efficiency of HCT is very promising, and the company is executing its plan to commercialize it. Stay tuned.
