Legislation that makes sweeping changes to the U.S. plastics recycling system generated quick opposition from industry groups, with plastics industry representatives focused on the bill\u2019s treatment of certain materials recovery processes.<\/p>\n
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act hit the Congressional stage on March 25, reviving a push for national extended producer responsibility for packaging, a nationwide bottle bill, recycled content standards and more.<\/p>\n
It also puts several restrictions on technologies, some decades old and some newer, that the plastics industry has rallied behind. Chemical recycling facilities would face new hurdles in permitting and would not be considered true \u201crecycling\u201d under the bill\u2019s definition. Chemical recycling, sometimes called \u201cadvanced plastics recycling,\u201d refers to a broad range of processes that break down recovered plastics to the molecular level for use in oils, waxes, new polymers and other products.<\/p>\n
The provisions around chemical recycling in the Break Free legislation have drawn significant focus from bill opponents.<\/p>\n
During a press conference hosted by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) prior to the bill\u2019s introduction, plastics industry representatives said the chemical recycling regulations would run counter to the bill\u2019s stated goal of reducing plastic waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would prevent advanced recycling technologies that can dramatically expand the types and amounts of plastics that can be recycled and reduce plastic waste,\u201d said Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow. \u201cUnder the act, these facilities are subject to a pause. We need to accelerate \u2013 not pause \u2013 progress on these important recycling innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the bill\u2019s sponsors say they don\u2019t want to prevent viable plastics recovery processes. The pause-and-study period is a way of observing and better regulating chemical recycling to ensure it\u2019s a safe process, explained Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., one of the chief sponsors of the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want these chemical approaches \u2026 to poison the environment or the populations that live near these facilities,\u201d Lowenthal said in a press conference held March 25, the day the bill was introduced. \u201cIf they can demonstrate that they\u2019re effective and they do not pollute, we\u2019re all for them.\u201d
\nProposal halts permitting for three years<\/p>\n
In a section focused on \u201cclean air, clean water, and environmental justice,\u201d the Break Free bill suspends federal permitting for a variety of \u201ccovered facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The list of covered facilities includes those meeting the following definition: \u201can industrial facility that transforms natural gas liquids into ethylene and propylene for later conversion into plastic polymers; a plastic polymerization or polymer production facility; an industrial facility that repolymerizes plastic polymers into chemical feedstocks for use in new products or as fuel; and an industrial facility that generates fuel or energy from plastic polymers through waste-to-fuel technology, an incinerator, or other similar technology\u201d as determined by the U.S. EPA.<\/p>\n
Permitting for these plants would be halted for up to three years to \u201cupdate needed regulations on these facilities\u201d to prevent air and water pollution, and to prohibit impacts on communities surrounding such facilities, the bill\u2019s sponsors wrote of that provision. The technologies would be studied by the U.S. EPA, National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n
Additionally, chemical recycling processes are specifically excluded from the definition of \u201crecycling\u201d under the legislation.<\/p>\n
The prospect of slowing the advance of chemical recycling drew quick ire among major resin producers and chemical recycling operators.<\/p>\n
Preventing chemical recycling technologies from coming to market would \u201celiminate the best tool we have to recover more plastic waste,\u201d said Joshua Baca, vice president of the plastics division of the ACC, in the press conference shortly before the bill was introduced.<\/p>\n
Fitterling of Dow likened the development of chemical recycling to the growth of the electric car industry and the renewable energy industries, and he reiterated the results the plastics industry anticipates from commercializing chemical recycling.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next 10 years, you will notice a significant increase in recycling rates here in the United States, enabled by advanced recycling, enabled by the ability to take materials that mechanical recycling can\u2019t,\u201d Fitterling said.<\/p>\n
Bob Powell, CEO of Brightmark, a company that is commercializing a plastics-to-fuel process with nationwide expansion plans, expressed a similar concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you limit our and others\u2019 ability to utilize advanced recycling technologies with this legislation, you\u2019re going to hinder our progress, put a pause on solving what we believe to be one of the Earth\u2019s most impactful issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lowenthal, the bill\u2019s sponsor, took issue with the ACC and other opponents framing the pause as a ban on that emerging sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the bill, we do not ban some of things they\u2019re saying, like chemical recycling,\u201d Lowenthal said. \u201cWe just say that you can\u2019t call it recycling, and require that whatever facilities the chemical association wants to do, that they be included in the comprehensive study by EPA and the National Academy of Sciences, so we can understand their cumulative impacts on human health and the environment, so we can adequately update our clean air and clean water regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn no way do we want to stifle innovation and stop what the chemical association says we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Lowenthal added. \u201cIt\u2019s just the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides the ACC, the Plastics Industry Association also mentioned the bill\u2019s pause on chemical recycling operations in describing the group\u2019s opposition.<\/p>\n
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace responded to the opposition by linking to its own research into the chemical recycling sector. Greenpeace wrote that, \u201cdespite the fact that these projects have not proven viable, consumer goods companies have promoted them through their corporate responsibility materials and circular economy commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legislation that makes sweeping changes to the U.S. plastics recycling system generated quick opposition from industry groups, with plastics industry representatives focused on the bill\u2019s treatment of certain materials recovery processes. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act hit the Congressional stage on March 25, reviving a push for national extended producer responsibility for packaging, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[10453],"supplier":[15172,372,2204],"class_list":["post-90038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recycling","tag-recycling","supplier-brightmark-energy","supplier-dow-chemical-company","supplier-greenpeace-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90038"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=90038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}