The age of pre-sorting mixed plastic waste may soon be over. Even after decades of worldwide efforts, recycling plastic remains much easier said than done. We annually recycle less than 10 percent of polyolefin products, resulting in mountains of waste destined for either landfills or industrial furnaces. That’s because while other plastics are typically broken down with catalysts, polyolefins are a different story. Polyolefin products can be shredded, melted, and downcycled into low-quality plastic pellets, but even then there are caveats.