In March, Eastman Chemical Co. made waves when it announced a $1.2 billion expansion to its plant straddling Gregg and Harrison counties.
The investment 性视界传媒 among the largest in the area性视界传媒檚 history 性视界传媒 was not just noteworthy for its size or the economic impact it will have on the Longview area, but because of the technology it will bring to the plant.
Eastman is preparing to build a 性视界传媒渕olecular recycling性视界传媒 facility on the property that will take mountains of plastic waste and turn it into virgin plastic using a complex chemical process.
The company already operates one recycling plant using the same technology in Kingsport, Tennessee. Eastman claims each location will be capable of recycling 110,000 tons of plastic a year, making both sites among the largest chemical recycling facilities on the planet.
Eastman and a slew of major fossil fuel companies believe such plants are key for developing 性视界传媒渢he circular economy,性视界传媒 whereby plastic waste, once destined for landfills, is collected, sorted, melted down and made new again.
But until recently, the hype around circularity contrasted against a myriad of attempts to make the vision a reality. It性视界传媒檚 proven extraordinarily difficult to get any of the technologies under the umbrella of chemical recycling to work at scale, much less turn a profit.
Tyler-based New Hope Energy is using a competing technology called pyrolysis to turn plastic into fuel, but its facility has caught on fire on multiple occasions and failed to meet its production targets.
In that context, Eastman性视界传媒檚 accomplishment represents a breakthrough in the nascent chemical recycling space. The company性视界传媒檚 website states molecular recycling is a 性视界传媒減ivotal tool for achieving circularity性视界传媒 and affirms Eastman性视界传媒檚 性视界传媒渃ommitment to solving the world性视界传媒檚 plastic waste problem.性视界传媒
However, environmental groups question whether the 性视界传媒渃ircular economy性视界传媒 will reduce plastic waste or simply perpetuate an addiction to plastic products. Clean air advocates highlight the potential for cancerous emissions associated with chemical recycling, which are a long-running issue for Eastman性视界传媒檚 existing plant just outside Longview.
How the technology works
Eastman uses a process called methanolysis to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polyester plastic found in a myriad of products from 2-liter bottles to carpets. That sounds complicated 性视界传媒 and the science is 性视界传媒 but the basic principles of the company性视界传媒檚 approach are easy to grasp.
性视界传媒淭he first thing that will happen at our facility in Longview is we性视界传媒檒l receive things like colored shampoo bottles, clamshell food packaging and textiles containing PET,性视界传媒 said Chris Layton, Eastman性视界传媒檚 director of circular policy strategy. 性视界传媒淭hese are traditionally products that are difficult to mechanically recycle.性视界传媒
Then the plastic waste is ground together into a form that can be fed into the plant性视界传媒檚 reactor.
What happens next is called depolymerization, Layton explained. That性视界传媒檚 what chemists call the method of breaking down plastics (polymers) into their smallest parts.
(Samuel Shaw/性视界传媒 Photo)
Every plastic is a polymer, and every polymer is a chain of smaller, simpler molecules called monomers. Eastman uses heat, pressure and methanol vapor to unzip that chain into its monomer building blocks before they are reassembled into virgin plastic.
性视界传媒淲hen we get back to those building blocks, it allows us to purify them. So that color in the bottle that came in? We can remove that or any other impurities in there,性视界传媒 Layton said. 性视界传媒淭hough you性视界传媒檝e started with plastic waste, our process allows us to reproduce plastic with the same quality, the same safety, and same performance as resins produced with fossil fuels.性视界传媒
About 5 percent of the material fed through the systems is expelled through wastewater, air emissions or sent to landfills, Layton said. Another similar fraction of the waste plastic is diverted back into the process and burned for energy recovery. Solar panels paired to thermal batteries will provide another source of energy to power the recycling plant.
The remaining 90 percent of material is turned into PET pellets and shipped to a growing list of customers hungry for recycled goods. Pepsi has signed a contract with Eastman as have Stanley Black & Decker and Camelback for use in the company性视界传媒檚 Nalgene water bottles.
Where will Eastman source the plastic from?
Tucked deep in the Piney Woods in an area with low recycling participation, Longview might not seem like an obvious place to locate a large recycling facility built to handle millions of pounds of waste.
But Eastman won性视界传媒檛 be intaking local plastic 性视界传媒 not yet, anyway. Texas cities will be supplying the PET fed into the plants methanolysis units.
性视界传媒淥ne of the reasons we chose Longview is because it性视界传媒檚 within a 300-mile radius of multiple, large population centers,性视界传媒 Layton said. 性视界传媒淪an Antonio and Austin have some of the highest recycling rates in the country, and 75 percent of our feedstock will come from urban areas in that radius.性视界传媒
That doesn性视界传媒檛 mean that Eastman is ignoring Longview, Layton said. The company is hoping to mirror its approach to local waste collection in Tennessee.
性视界传媒淎 key part of what we did with the investment in Kingsport is to try and reestablish access to recycling locally. We性视界传媒檙e doing it through a partnership with Food City, a local retailer,性视界传媒 Layton said. 性视界传媒淲e性视界传媒檝e already begun thinking about how we would replicate that in Longview.性视界传媒
Lisa Ramsden, a senior campaigner with GreenPeace focused on marine plastic pollution, said Eastman性视界传媒檚 strategy allows distant cities to avoid the consequences of their own waste by dumping it on Longview.
性视界传媒淭hat性视界传媒檚 basically what we性视界传媒檝e been doing with this kind of waste from the beginning,性视界传媒 she said. 性视界传媒淯p until 2019, we were shipping off plastic to China and calling that recycling when it was often getting incinerated there.
性视界传媒淪o this is not not new to take one city性视界传媒檚 plastic waste issue and outsource it to other people, other communities and other parts of the world,性视界传媒 Ramsden said.
Toxic emissions concerns
Eastman性视界传媒檚 big bet on recycling PET at its East Texas facility was followed up by news in early April that federal regulations are targeting cancer-causing emissions at the site. The plant is a major emitter of multiple carcinogenic gasses, the most potent of which, ethylene oxide, is produced on location.
Layton said the molecular recycling plant will have 性视界传媒渢he same type of emissions that we have from our existing processes.性视界传媒
Kristin Parker, an Eastman spokeswoman, told the News-Journal that the company has not yet filed its Clean Air Act permit that would detail exactly what hazardous pollutants the new plant will emit.
Eastman Chemical性视界传媒檚 new molecular recycling plant in Kingsport, Tennessee, began initial production of chemically recycled plastic in March. The Longview site will use the same technology as its sister site in Kingsport with roughly the same output. (Eastman Chemical Co./Courtesy Photo)
More than 40 chemical intermediates that go into adhesives, coatings and other industrial applications are created with the plant性视界传媒檚 legacy equipment. Toxic gasses are a byproduct of those operations.
Campaigners at the Natural Resource Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group and plastic industry watchdog, are skeptical of Eastman性视界传媒檚 claims about the safety of chemical recycling.
性视界传媒淒o we need innovation to solve the plastic waste crisis? Yes. What we don性视界传媒檛 need to do is create a new toxic process to solve our toxic waste problem,性视界传媒 said Renee Sharp, a senior scientist at the Natural Resource Defense Council and director of plastics and petrochemical advocacy.
性视界传媒淲hat we性视界传媒檝e seen with many of these technological approaches to plastic recycling is a lot of air pollution and hazardous waste generation,性视界传媒 Sharp said, but added that the jury is still out on methanolysis given how recently the technology matured.
Eastman性视界传媒檚 Tennessee molecular recycling plant only reached its initial production phase in March, so there are still question marks about how polluting the process is and whether those risks are comparable to better studied plastic-to-fuel technologies .
Layton said the East Texas plant will be built to mitigate pollution hazards: 性视界传媒淥ne of the advantages of a big integrated facility like the one Longview is we have a lot of the infrastructure to handle wastewater treatment, solid waste and air emissions.性视界传媒
Reduce plastic waste or encourage it?
Eastman is projecting the Longview plant will annually divert 110,000 metric tons of PET plastic from landfills and incinerators. That equates to almost 243 million pounds.
Parker, the Eastman spokeswoman, offered a visual reference of what that number would look like as a single pile of waste.
性视界传媒淚f you性视界传媒檙e familiar with Neyland Stadium in Tennessee, we could fill it with plastic that we process two-and-a-half times every year,性视界传媒 Parker said.
Ramsden said those numbers need to be put into perspective.
性视界传媒淚n the U.S., we are producing about 40 to 44 million metric tons of plastic each year. This is a small drop in the bucket,性视界传媒 she said. 性视界传媒淲e really just need to be using less plastic.性视界传媒
Ramsden argues that terms like the circular economy serve to green wash plastic consumption and insulate fossil fuel profits against renewable energy growth and EV purchases.
Shell, ExxonMobil, Dow and other fossil and chemical companies committed more than $1 billion in 2019 to a nonprofit organization called Alliance to End Plastic Waste, according to Food and Water Watch, an environmental and industry watchdog organization. One of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste性视界传媒檚 primary goals is promoting a 性视界传媒渃ircular economy.性视界传媒
GreenPeace and the Natural Resource Defense Council believe a less flashy set of solutions are key to limiting the build up of waste plastics on land, in the ocean and in .
性视界传媒淕reenpeace really touts refill and reuse models as one of the big solutions to this crisis,性视界传媒 Ramsden said. 性视界传媒淐oca Cola used to sell its beverages in reusable glass bottles that consumers would enjoy, then return for a deposit. That is much more of a circular economy.性视界传媒
Sharp described chemical recycling as the wrong solution to the wrong problem.
性视界传媒淲e need less disposable plastics and more reusable materials so we性视界传媒檙e not having to use toxic chemical recycling in the first place,性视界传媒 she said.
