Page 73 - Plastics News August 2024
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BUSINESS NEWS
The company has not called attention to this re- Slow technology development has indeed been
traction, but it is a “significant” change, said Da- a factor in the advanced recycling market said
vis Allen, investigative researcher at the Center Allen, but one that Shell “maybe should have
for Climate Integrity, which shared the finding seen coming”.
with the Guardian.
The industry has claimed pyrolysis will be a
“It’s an acknowledgment that advanced recy- groundbreaking solution to plastic waste for
cling is not developing in the way that compa- many years; Allen recently found a lobby group
nies have promised it will, and are counting on it document making such claims in the 1970s. But
to,” he said. “That’s pretty meaningful.” experts have also told the the sector for dec-
ades that there are practical issues with ad-
Researchers and environmental advocates have vanced recycling, the Center for Climate Integ-
long raised concerns about advanced recy- rity has found.
cling, warning it can create even more toxic and
planet-heating pollution than virgin plastic pro- Today, there is mounting evidence that ad-
duction and is even more energy intensive than vanced recycling “often just does not work”,
traditional plastic recycling. Studies show the fa- said Judith Enck, president of advocacy group
cilities are most likely to harm communities that Beyond Plastics and a former EPA regional ad-
are already vulnerable to contamination and cli- ministrator. Many of the United States’ 11 ad-
mate threats. vanced recycling facilities operate only partially,
and two have been shut down altogether.
But that is not why Shell struck its pledge. In the
report, the company said the walk-back was Shell’s third reason for walking back their pledge
necessary due to changes in the market. – regulatory uncertainty – probably refers to
a rapidly changing advanced recycling policy
“While Shell sees customer demand for circular landscape. Many states have recently passed
chemicals, the pace of growth globally is less pro-advanced recycling legislation, due largely
than expected due to lack of available feed- to lobbying by the powerful industry group the
stock, slow technology development and regu- American Chemistry Council, said Enck.
latory uncertainty,” the document says.
But some regulators are moving in the other di-
Complaints of insufficient feedstock may seem rection. The Environmental Protection Agency
a surprising when hundreds of millions of tons last year withdrew a plan to ease some regu-
of plastic are produced each year. But despite lations on pyrolysis, while New Jersey recently
what is suggested in marketing materials, post- decided chemically recycled material should not
consumer items such as food packaging and be considered recycled plastic.
empty soap bottles cannot easily be recycled
via pyrolysis. The process works best with clean, Other plastic producers, such as Exxon and Dow,
homogeneous inputs, but sorting and cleaning have also pledged to rapidly expand their ad-
plastic is expensive. As a result, most chemical vanced recycling capacities. The technology can
recycling facilities working at scale rely mostly bring forth a “circular” plastics economy that
on processed industrial scrap – or “plastic left on reduces the need to use virgin fossil fuels, the
the cutting room floor during production”, said industry often claims.
Allen.
August 2024 PLASTICS NEWS 75
