Analysis of prices obtained by the model indicates that thermo-chemical upcycling can make plastic waste and other intermediate products highly valuable and indicates that such values vary substantially by geographical location, as illustrated in Figure and Table . Importantly, the plastic waste value is positive everywhere in the continental US, revealing a key economic result for the infrastructure: the upcycling infrastructure is economically viable without added incentives (policy). Its viability is derived from value created in part by the reclamation of mechanically-recycled HDPE/PET plastics (Table ), but the majority of the system value arises from the production of high-value LDPE/PP through thermo-economical upcycling. The model also reveals that upcycling creates an economy worth 19.7 billion USD annually (a measure of total economic surplus, excluding capital costs). This total profit can be used to remunerate all stakeholders, including producers of recyclable streams (residents). For instance, if residential profit is 10 billion USD per year, this would represent an average per-county profit of 3.3 million USD / year and an average per-capita profit of 31 USD / year. Simply put, upcycling provides an opportunity for US residents to be compensated for recycling plastic (or to not be charged tipping fees). We also observe that residential profits are strongly affected by geographical location; as Figure reveals, counties closest to MRFs and processing hubs benefit the most, as they avoid transportation costs. This economic behavior captures the fact that waste in remote areas and with low population densities is more difficult and expensive to capture.