Polymer Degradation Mechanisms and Emerging Strategies for Sustainable Plastics

Plastic waste is becoming an increasing environmental problem owing to the durability, chemical inertness, and poor recyclability of most traditional plastics. New developments in polymer chemistry are offering various types of degradability mechanisms which can address physical, catalytic, thermal, photochemical, and hydrolytic routes toward catalyzed depolymerization to enable closed-loop material cycles. Mechanochemical routes employ force‐responsive mechanophores to accomplish gated or cascade degradation, and metal catalyzed systems—including MOFs, redox catalysts, and organometallic complexes—to selectively cleave bonds and recover monomers under mild conditions. Thermal and photochemical degradation routes are improved with catalytic additives, porous organic photocatalysts, and photo responsive backbone designs, providing clean and energy-saving ways. Hydrolytic approaches including those involving the hydrolysis of polyesters and polycarbonates exploit structural features as well as catalytic scaffolds to enhance ecologically significant rates of hydrolytic decomposition. Together, these new approaches demonstrate how combining smart degradability, closed loop depolymerization, and environmentally triggered breakdown into future polymer design, contributing to a more sustainable and circular plastic economy.