A method for the chemical recycling of poly(carbonate) plastic wastes in the form of a diol monomer, i.e. bis(hydroxyethyl) ether of bisphenol A (BPA), was investigated. Treatment of poly(carbonate) pellets (PC) in ethylene glycol (EG) with a catalytic amount of NaOH (0.1 equiv) produced monohydroxyethyl ether of BPA (MHE-BPA, 42%), bishydroxyethyl ether of BPA (BHE-BPA, 11%) and BPA (42%). When 1.6 mol equiv ethylene carbonate (EC) was added to the same reaction system, BHE-BPA was produced quantitatively. Furthermore, the reaction of BPA with EC was shown to produce both BHE-BPA and MHE-BPA. This result indicates that EC was formed as an intermediate in the base-catalyzed reaction of PC with EG. However, a large proportion of this EC formed from PC was lost by decarboxylation. Therefore, additional EC from an outside source must be supplied for the quantitative preparation of BHE-BPA.