WASHINGTON D.C. – In a new report, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) exposes the truth behind the plastics industry charade that “chemical recycling” facilities can solve the massive pollution problem created by plastic waste. In More Recycling Lies, NRDC demonstrates that “chemical recycling,” including incineration and other toxic processes, fails to halt the deluge of plastic waste, increases toxic air pollution, and generates large quantities of hazardous waste.
“The public wants an end to the plastics crisis, not more toxic air pollution or hazardous waste,” said Renée Sharp, NRDC’s director of plastics and petrochemical advocacy. “The ‘chemical recycling’ technologies being promoted by the plastics industry won’t solve our plastics problem and would create new toxic threats to communities across the country.”
Despite the toxic impacts of “chemical recycling” (also called “advanced recycling” by the industry), the plastics industry is aggressively trying to reframe this technology as a “clean” source of “sustainable” fuels. The chemical industry is lobbying Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to greenlight faster approval and expanded use of dirty plastic fuels—chemical mixtures derived from plastics waste-to-fuel processes—as “new” and “green” chemicals, and to remove federal pollution controls on toxic air pollution and hazardous waste generated by plastic incinerators.
Additionally, dozens of new polluting facilities from Arizona to Illinois to Maryland have been proposed to incinerate plastic or use other toxic processes on plastic waste. This expansion will increase toxic air emissions and cause the number of truckloads of hazardous waste traveling the nation’s highways to surge, putting communities at increased risk from any accidents.
NRDC’s updated analysis of the industry finds that:
- Pyrolysis, which is a type of incineration, accounts for almost 80 percent of both proposed and operating “chemical recycling” facilities in the United States. Yet pyrolysis actually can’t recycle much, if any, plastic. What it mostly produces instead is dirty fuels that are onetime use. And those fuels can be highly toxic. One of the chemical mixtures approved by the EPA in 2023, intended to be used as jet fuel, was estimated to pose a 1 in 4 cancer risk (meaning that 1 in every 4 people regularly exposed to it throughout their life would likely develop cancer).
- All forms of “chemical recycling” produce hazardous waste, generate hazardous air pollutants, and/or use toxic solvents. Just three pyrolysis facilities alone sent more than two million pounds of hazardous waste to offsite disposal locations between 2021 and 2024. Other chemical and solvent-based methods of “chemical recycling” have their own highly toxic footprints.
- While there are very few operational “chemical recycling” facilities in the United States, more than a third of all U.S. states have at least one proposed or currently operating facility. These facilities tend to be sited in low-income communities and/or communities of color.
- Even communities and states without “chemical recycling” facilities could still be impacted due to the transportation of hazardous waste. Hazardous waste generated by just three existing pyrolysis facilities already travels through 13 states on the way to disposal facilities, putting even more communities at risk. The dangers of transportation-related releases of hazardous materials should be clear to the public given the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
To prevent human health and environmental harm from “chemical recycling,” NRDC recommends policies that:
- Maintain or enact recycling definitions and standards that exclude plastic-to-fuel processes and other forms of “chemical recycling”
- Preserve state and federal health and pollution safeguards and do not exempt “chemical recycling” facilities from the Clean Air Act or laws regulating hazardous waste
- Do not waste taxpayer dollars on tax credits, loan guarantees, or other financial subsidies or incentives for “chemical recycling” facilities or technologies
- Require recycled-content claims in packaging to be truthful; to correspond to the physical quantity of recycled material actually contained in the product—don’t allow recycled claims when there may be little or no recycled plastic in the product
- Support real solutions to plastic pollution, such as promoting nontoxic reuse and reducing single use
“The world is drowning in plastic and we need to stop the massive overproduction before it’s too late,” said Sharp. “The chemical lobby’s solution—make more plastic and more toxic pollution—is a toxic trap. Reducing plastics use and production, switching to more environmentally sound materials, and investing in a robust infrastructure for nontoxic reuse/return systems are the best solutions to the plastics crisis.”
Additional Resources:
Recycling Lies: “Chemical Recycling” of Plastic Is Just Greenwashing Incineration
The Plastics Industry’s Latest Deception: “Mass Balance”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).
