Nova once announced plans to develop large-scale chemical recycling plants, but less than two years later, the company decided to focus on mechanical recycling, leading to the shelving of various projects.

In 2023, Nova announced a collaboration with the UK-based plastic pyrolysis company Plastic Energy to conduct a feasibility study for a chemical recycling plant, which will become the largest of its kind in Canada.

However, after the completion of the feasibility study in 2024, NOVA Chemicals and Plastics Energy ultimately decided to temporarily shelve the project.

Greg DeKunder, Vice President of Nova Circular Solutions, publicly stated that companies like Nova are always exploring 10 to 30 capital investment projects. Statistically, it is not uncommon for many projects to be shelved, but due to limited funding, it is not possible to cover them extensively. The key issue is that chemical recycling projects are large in scale, high in cost, require a long time to invest, and have long payback periods. Additionally, the complex political factors and uncertain policies in North America ultimately led to the cancellation of the project.

However, President DeKunder also stated that Nova is only temporarily suspending investment in this chemical recycling project. If a sound business case emerges and external market conditions and policies in North America become favorable, they will still pursue successful investments.

Other postponed or canceled chemical recycling projects include Eastman's PET depolymerization plant in France, Braven Environmental's planned facility in Virginia, Encina's project in Pennsylvania, and Brightmark's plastic-to-fuel recycling plant in Georgia.

But some chemical recycling projects are underway, including PureCycle, Eastman, and ExxonMobil.

In summary, from DeKunder's perspective, given the current industry environment in North America, such large-scale projects are relatively risky due to factors including raw material supply (variety and quantity), insufficient off-take agreement commitments, significant policy impacts, and sometimes even pressure from environmental organizations.

For example, in North America, pyrolysis is subject to close scrutiny by legislators to determine whether it should be classified as recycling.

As of May 2024, bills restricting chemical recycling have been proposed in nine U.S. states, with Maine having passed a law limiting chemical recycling. These bills primarily focus on pyrolysis and gasification technologies, but some also target depolymerization.

This is because, although the yield of pyrolysis oil is relatively high, typically around 70-80%, when this oil is used to produce new plastic, the yield of the new plastic is much lower compared to virgin plastic. This raises questions about whether this technology should be strictly considered as recycling and whether the material can be counted toward recycled content targets.

Meanwhile, 24 states in the U.S. have passed bills supporting chemical recycling technology. Therefore, the legislative outlook for pyrolysis is mixed, but if more restrictive bills are passed, it could significantly disrupt future investment in the technology.