The past week has been another active period for news about chemical or advanced recycling, with multiple project updates announced.
Brightmark announced plans to invest $950 million for a project in Thomaston, Georgia, that it says will have capacity to handle 400,000 tons of plastic per year.
The company plans to source a variety of “hard-to-recycle” and mixed plastics from industrial and commercial sources, as well as from MRF operators. According to Brightmark, the facility will create an estimated 200 jobs and the company will invest $20 million in local infrastructure improvements.
“This investment in Georgia represents a commitment to supporting economic longevity and playing an integral role in building a sustainable future together in my home state,” said founder and CEO Bob Powell in a statement.
This comes two years after Brightmark and the Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority scrapped plans for a similar $680 million facility in Georgia, due in part to questions about the viability of a new Brightmark pyrolysis facility in Indiana, as reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting. That facility in Ashley, Indiana, is currently operating in a startup phase according to the company.
Meanwhile, Encina recently announced that it will no longer pursue construction plans for a $1.1 billion pyrolysis facility in Point Township, Pennsylvania. The project, announced in 2022, was expected to have 450,000 tons of plastic processing capacity. It had support from high-profile officials, including former Gov. Tom Wolf, but faced pushback from certain local groups and residents. This included a recent resolution opposing the plans by the township of Northumberland, which raised concerns about potential environmental effects, as reported by The Daily Item.
CEO Dave Roesser said the company will instead focus on others projects in the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asia. “The demand for these products required that our company reevaluate our engineering design to meet these larger end-product goals for our customers,” he said in a statement, which didn’t directly address local concerns in Pennsylvania.
In other news, Reuters reported that California Attorney General Rob Bonta is almost done with a multiyear investigation of ExxonMobil’s role in plastic production and pollution. This is said to include a look at the company’s promotion of and investment in chemical recycling, which includes one Texas facility to date.
According to Reuters, the company’s recently announced decision to close a chemical production facility in France will also affect plans to partner with Plastic Energy on an adjacent chemical recycling project.
This story first appeared in the Waste Dive: Recycling newsletter. Sign up for the weekly emails here.
