The state Senate will soon vote on a seemingly modest tweak of environmental regulations that the plastics industry is confident will open an exciting door to new recycling technology aimed at whittling away Pennsylvania’s pile of plastic waste.
The legislation, known as House Bill (HB) 1808, reclassifies advanced-recycling plants in the state as “manufacturing” facilities rather than a standard “recycling” operation as defined by regulations dating back around 40 years. The measure has already cleared the House and last month was approved by the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on a 7-4 vote. The next step is a full vote by the Senate and then on to Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature. A date for the vote has not been set, but action is expected in the coming weeks.
Proponents of HB 1808 say the changes will allow the industry to begin scaling up so-called pyrolysis technology to process varieties of plastic that have been thus far unfit for standard recycling, and in a manner that does not belch smoke or other fumes into the atmosphere. The changes would allow new plants to operate without various fees and other regulations levied on older recycling plants that incinerate plastic trash.
Abby Foster, president of the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council (PCIC), said the existing regulations were unnecessary for these new plants because the heat-based process melts clean plastics – largely packaging materials and single-use plastic grocery bags – into plastic feedstocks and other useful raw materials using a closed system. “They aren’t really ‘waste’ products anymore,” she told Pennsylvania Business Report. “The original laws date from the ‘80s; there is a ton of new technology in recycling.”
The chemical industry has high hopes that pyrolysis will be an important step in launching a new era in plastics recycling. It is billed as a clean method that will make use of plastic bottles, bags, and other containers in the consumer sector using material that would otherwise wind up in a landfill if not along the side of the road. “It’s a closed process,” said Foster. “There is no oxygen involved and there are no emissions.”
Some environmentalists dispute the notion that pyrolysis is the panacea that the industry claims it is since some emissions are created, but those are assumed to be captured by plant equipment; an air-quality permit would still be required. But the industry and the backers of HB 1808 in Harrisburg say the bill separates the next-generation technology from the 20th Century methods. “The legislation also makes clear that these facilities are not taking in or handling municipal waste, and that they are fully compliant with all DEP and EPA permitting requirements,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh County), said last year in a letter to his statehouse colleagues.
The PCIC sent its own letter to every member of the Senate in September, calling the process a boon to Pennsylvania’s economy. “According to the American Chemistry Council, converting just 25 percent of the recoverable post-use plastics in Pennsylvania could support ten advanced recycling manufacturing facilities, resulting in $314 million in new economic output annually,” the letter said. “This is a free market solution to a global and domestic challenge that the PA Department of Environmental Protection and administration support, and that provides a benefit to both Pennsylvania’s environment and economy.”
Foster said that China’s decision in 2018 to block imports of used plastics for recycling had increased the supply of material in the United States, which has pushed the price down to bargain levels and “created an opportunity for the United States to make this viable at scale.”
The pyrolysis idea has been gaining traction across the United States and has attracted the attention of Shell, which envisions adding the new source of recycled plastics to its worldwide feedstock stream. Jeff Krafve, General Manager of the Shell Polymers Monaca operation at the Shell Chemicals Appalachia plant in Beaver County, sent a letter to Sen. Elder Vogel, a Republican who represents the county, indicating the company was a potential long-term customer.
Krafve wrote that Shell had a global goal of using some 1 million tons of such recycled waste annually by 2025, and was anxious to include Pennsylvania recyclers and processors. “We want to play an active role in finding lasting solutions,” he said.
“We will work with multiple companies who collect and transform plastic waste in order to scale this solution to industrial and profitable quantities across our chemical plants in Asia, Europe and North America,” said the letter. “Locally in Pennsylvania, we are working to address this issue and have made investments in Beaver County’s recycling program and we look forward to growing that relationship.”