An excellent response. And more than likely correct. I guess I am thinking of something akin to an oxidizer like rust, but for plastics. They are attempting to do something like this with Enzymes. But, In my mind that may compromise all plastics and be more difficult to isolate. Spreading to unintended areas and materials. Using AI, lets say, work up an oxidizer that can quickly break down plastics for 95-100% recycling without additional input energy. But as others have pointed out, you either use more energy making the oxidizer, or it is actually more toxic than what you are asking it to break down. Also, cost, as you pointed out. A Tricky problem we've worked up for ourselves indeed!