PLASTICS TREATED AS CHEMICALS

The Intercept news outlet tells us about a report on the huge subsidies being given to chemical companies to set up mostly bogus companies to chemically treat various kinds of plastics. The reason is easy to see. The primary goal of industry is to avoid regulation of their production by the government. By throwing the dust of chemical treatment into the eyes of environmentalists, they can promote the notion that recycling can work.

Also see the followup Intercept article: How the Plastics Industry is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World.

Both of the above articles unfortunately give short shrift to any effective solutions to the problems they report on in such detail. All they mention is banning and reducing usage, neither one of which includes much potential for effectiveness. But awareness is growing.

Chemical breakdown is nothing new. In the 1980’s Eastman Chemical built a plant in Kingsport TN to break down polyester plastic into its components, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid which could then be purified and reused. They had a special advantage. They were the Kodak film company and they had access to millions of tons of plastic film, all of which was polyester (just the same as Dacron and Orlon). But when photos began to be stored on silicon instead of film, they closed down the plant. Recent new plants focused on the same chemistry, lack the advantage of a dedicated source, so I wonder what they imagine will be their sources.

Industrial reports are full of new recycling plants that are going to eliminate all the excess plastics. Often they are getting enormous investments as well as glowing or valuable help from the government. But it is rare when we learn that still one more of them actually collapsed, though most do. Here’s one.

See also Pie In the Sky (this website).