Recycling’s next big thing — or big bluff?

In a well-lit facility in Houston, Texas, environmental advocate Malachi Key sifts through a mound of discarded waste. He retrieves a used chicken salad box, among other items slated for recycling, and embeds a tracker within it. The city’s 2022 program promised to recycle up to 90% of plastics, even those considered difficult to process, a stark contrast to the US average of less than 10%. Key, working with Air Alliance Houston, calls the initiative “too good to be true,” prompting the use of tracking devices to uncover its true nature.

Over the past 18 months, activists from Air Alliance Houston have identified 14 instances where their plastic waste was diverted to off-site storage rather than being recycled. “The accumulated plastic was not actually being recycled,” said Jen Hadayia, executive director of the group. “Not in any way, shape or form in the way the City of Houston had been claiming.” The program relies on advanced methods that utilize heat, enzymes, or solvents to decompose single-use plastics such as bread wrappers, juice pouches, or yogurt containers. These techniques convert plastics into base chemical components, which are then repurposed to create new plastic products indistinguishable from virgin materials.

Such promising potential has led the American Chemistry Council to label advanced recycling as “a breakthrough for reclaiming used plastics” capable of “helping lead to a circular economy.” However, critics argue the technology falls short. Lee Bell, a technical advisor for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, points to over 14,000 additives in plastics, with more than a quarter being toxic. These chemicals must be stripped out, generating significant hazardous waste. “If they manage to separate the polymers and monomers from these additives, they still create vast waste streams,” he warned.

Veena Singla, a public health scientist at UCSF, added that recycling plants themselves pose risks. “Three US facilities produced over 900 metric tons of hazardous waste in three years,” she noted, highlighting that they emit pollutants linked to respiratory illness, cancer, and neurological disorders. Moreover, the facilities generate fuel for burning, which reduces the amount of recycled material and increases the need for virgin plastic production. Globally, over 400 million tons of plastic are produced annually, with projections indicating this could triple by 2050.

Lee Bell suggests that chemical recycling serves more as a “propaganda exercise” to shift attention from rising plastic production and pollution. Despite the council’s vision of 150 plants generating $12.9 billion in annual economic output, progress has been slow. Only 11 facilities were operational in 2023, and four have since closed due to bankruptcy or insufficient output. One remaining plant in Houston, owned by Exxon Mobil, claims to have processed over 68,000 metric tons of plastic waste into new products.

Quotes from Critics

“The accumulated plastic was not actually being recycled,” said Jen Hadayia, executive director of Air Alliance Houston. “Not in any way, shape or form in the way that the City of Houston had been saying.”

“If they do manage to strip the polymers and monomers of these chemical additives and other contaminants, they generate enormous hazardous waste streams,” said Lee Bell.

“Three US facilities produced over 900 metric tons of hazardous waste in three years,” said Veena Singla, a public health scientist at UCSF.