Abstract: Driven by the demand for high-quality circular-economy development during China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, efficient treatment of waste plastics has become an important direction for resource utilization and coordinated pollution and carbon reduction. Waste plastics are characterized by diverse types, dispersed sources and strongly fluctuating compositions, while sorting difficulty, high impurity contents, poor compatibility of mixed plastics and insufficient high-value utilization remain common constraints. This review summarizes advances in mechanical recycling, targeted depolymerization and solvent separation, thermochemical conversion and biological conversion, and discusses treatment routes applicable to different waste-plastic streams. For future scale-up and continuous operation, major challenges include feedstock fluctuations, dechlorination and impurity removal, catalyst deactivation and insufficient selectivity toward fine chemicals. Accordingly, strategies including external-field intensification, multi-route tandem conversion, and AI-driven intelligent prediction and efficient processing are proposed, while economic analysis and forecasting are further recommended to guide technological breakthroughs and practical deployment. This review aims to provide a reference for the long-term development of waste-plastic resource-utilization technologies.