Exxon takes on lawmakers over plastics recycling technology

Chemical recycling uses heat and chemical reactions to break down plastic waste into its original raw materials, which can then be used to make new virgin plastics.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): ExxonMobil has warned that onerous regulations risk derailing a promising technology to recycle plastic, rejecting critics who allege it is a “greenwashing tool” that does little to benefit the environment. The oil major is lobbying lawmakers in Brussels and Washington for rule changes that it says would unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in “chemical recycling”. Exxon is suing critics for defamation, including California’s attorney-general Rob Bonta, who joined several US-based environmental groups in accusing Exxon of deceiving the public by touting the recycling technology as the “solution to the plastic waste and pollution crisis”. “We won’t stand for a defamatory campaign about our advanced recycling technology,” Matt Crocker, president of Exxon’s product solutions company, said in an interview. “We believe we’re bringing a real solution, recycling plastic waste that couldn’t be recycled by traditional methods.”

Chemical recycling uses heat and chemical reactions to break down plastic waste into its original raw materials, which can then be used to make new virgin plastics. It processes flexible films, laminates and coloured materials that traditional recycling — sorting, cleaning and melting waste so it can be remoulded — cannot handle. But the technology is opposed by many environmental campaigners, who say it uses incineration, generates air pollution and produces more fuel from the waste than recycled plastics. “It is a lot about smoke and mirrors because [Exxon] have realised there is a plastics problem and the world is waking up to that,” said Renée Sharp, director of the plastics advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. Analysts forecast chemical recycling could create a $120bn market for the petrochemical industry in the US and Canada. If the new recycling technology is rolled out on a large enough scale, plastics producers such as Exxon claim it could reduce a global plastics waste crisis that has prompted governments to consider capping production. The UN estimates the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes every day, altering habitats, affecting livelihoods, food production and harming people’s health. Intergovernmental talks aimed at agreeing a global plastics treaty broke up in August without a deal, amid disagreement over whether caps on production are needed or if measures to promote recycling would suffice. Crocker said plastics had “unique properties” that could not easily be replaced, adding that the expansion of chemical recycling plants in the US and Europe could help solve the waste problem. In September, Exxon put on hold plans to invest €100mn in two chemical recycling plants in Belgium and the Netherlands, blaming draft EU rules that it said would make them uneconomic. The company said it would only receive a fraction of the credits for the plastic waste it recycled under an EU accounting system proposed in the draft, because it planned to use its existing refineries rather than build new standalone units.

Accounting rules that measure the proportion of recycled material can alter the profitability of projects because that product can be sold at higher prices to customers who want to meet sustainability targets. An EU directive mandates that all plastic bottles should contain 30 per cent recycled content by 2030. Environmental groups argue the proposed rules must be strong enough to ensure that companies cannot claim credits for material that is processed into fuel or lost during the process. “It must be clear that any recycled content claims made on material that is processed into fuel are illegal because it would go against the definition of recycling itself, which clearly excludes the production of fuel from any recycling activity,” said Lauriane Veillard from Zero Waste Europe, a member of the Rethink Plastic alliance. In the US, the petrochemical industry is lobbying federal regulators to reclassify chemical recycling as a manufacturing process rather than incineration, which would lighten regulation on the sector. Exxon in September hosted Lee Zeldin, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, at Baytown, a sprawling refinery campus in Texas where the company is investing $200mn to scale up its existing chemical recycling plant. Exxon said the plant had processed 120mn pounds of plastic to date. “At the EPA we believe strongly that we can protect the environment and grow the economy,” said Zeldin while on a tour of the facility, according to a video posted by Exxon on its website this week. “The capital investment seems to be extraordinary and the future potential here seems to be limitless.”

Chemical recycling is at the centre of a legal battle between Exxon and the state of California, which sued the company last year alleging it had deceived the public for decades by suggesting the plastic it produced would be recycled. Several environmental groups joined the case, which says less than 5 per cent of plastics are recycled into another plastic product in the US, even though items are labelled recyclable. Exxon responded by suing the attorney-general and the green groups for defamation, alleging they had “engaged in a deliberate smear campaign against ExxonMobil, falsely claiming that ExxonMobil’s effective and innovative advanced recycling technology is a ‘false promise’ and ‘not based on truth’.” A spokeswoman for the attorney-general said he “continues to defend against ExxonMobil’s baseless defamation case in court”.

Courtesy: www.ft.com