This short legislative session has been a real test on our one last good nerve.

In reference to SB 1164, the bill that would classify chemical conversion (chemical recycling) as a manufacturing process, the bill co-patron had this pithy quote aimed at environmentalists who have been working overtime presenting testimony and data for why it is a bad bill: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

He’s right, it is a cigar, because chemical conversion facilities in Virginia will give Virginians cancer.

At that same hearing of the Agriculture, Conservation, and National Resources Committee, another sitting Virginia state senator quipped to the environmental community we didn’t know what we were talking about in reference to SB 1164. Senator Hanger’s full quote was, “I believe my friends in the environmental community will, once they understand what this actually does, I will be nominated by the Sierra Club as Environmentalist of the year”. To insinuate the environmental community does not understand the severity of allowing the petrochemical industry to have free rein in Virginia is insulting. We spend our days advocating to protect Virginia’s residents and environment, while Senator Hanger is pushing forward a bill that was hand delivered by the American Chemistry Council (ACC).

What’s our beef with the ACC? I hope you’ve got some time to read.

The ACC is the lobbying arm of the chemical industry- representing companies like, BASF Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, DowDupont, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, Shell Chemical LP, Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA Inc.

Despite several other legislators’ condescending admonishments, we are not anti-plastic. Plastics are an important invention in our lifetime and absolutely have their place in the world; sterile plastics are necessary for medical purposes; they help reduce fuel costs by making cars and planes lighter. However, we are anti-plastic pollution and we are anti-plastic LIES. These chemical conversion facilities will not reduce plastic pollution in Virginia, they simply create a new source of plastic production and a new fossil fuel produced in toxin emitting facilities. The ACC is making a concerted effort to introduce similar legislation in state houses around the country, Virginia is their latest push.

The ACC Member Companies Promoting Chemical Conversion

BASF Corporation is currently working on expanding their plastic production, their global expansion will increase their plastic output by more than 750,000 tons every year.

In 2018, Chevron Phillips began operating a new $6 billion ethane cracker to manufacture virgin plastics in Texas. This facility can produce 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene, which is used to make plastics. This facility will turn the ethylene into plastic resin to be shipped around the world. The local economic development authority approved the highest tax abatement possible under Texas law. This abatement will eliminate 90% of the company’s property tax liability for the facility, a multi-million dollar savings for Chevron Phillips.

In 2018, DowDupont announced a plan to invest $100 million over two years to increase their virgin plastic production at their Sabine River Works plant. Dow is the world’s largest producer of polyethylene, which is used to make grocery bags and plastic containers. Dow is expecting to boost their plastic production by 1.4 million tons every year!

At the end of 2019, ExxonMobil began construction of a new $7 billion plastic production plant in Texas. In 2020, ExxonMobil began construction on a new $2 billion plastics polymer unit, that will produce more than 400,000 tons of plastic polymers every year. These facilities were granted several hundred million dollars in tax breaks over the life of the facilities.

All of these companies include increasing virgin plastic production as part of their business plan. It is in their investor relations reports, it is in their press releases. These companies are not focused on reducing plastic pollution, they are focused on growing profits and shareholder returns by any means necessary. You can tell them we said it.

These companies have been lobbying the federal government to pass the Recover Act as a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. What does the Recover Act actually do? The most important aspect of the Recovery Act is that polluting corporations would contribute $500 million that would be matched with a $500 million grant from the federal government (read that as $500 million paid by taxpayers to prop up extremely profitable businesses) which would be used to improve domestic recycling infrastructure. Continuing to throw money at this problem without addressing the root problem has created this disaster, WE NEED TO PRODUCE LESS PLASTIC! The new chemical conversion facility being built in Virginia has a price tag of $31 million. The Recover Act could only fund 32 of these facilities and leave no money to address the glaring problems of domestic waste disposal infrastructure. Chemical conversion will increase the amount of plastic waste we have to deal with and do absolutely nothing to reduce the plastic pollution crisis.

Alliance to End Plastic Waste

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste is an industry funded advocacy group they claim is being used to reduce plastic pollution around the world. The top polluting corporations, including the ones mentioned in this post, have all committed to provide a combined $1.5 billion over a five year period to combat plastic waste in the environment. The same companies that are currently spending at least $20 billion to increase their plastic production rates. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste gave $5 million to Renew Oceans to develop a trash interceptor in the Ganges River. Chevron Phillips used a video of Renew Oceans workers in the Ganges in a sustainability promotional video. This project was touted by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste as, “One of the best projects”. When this project was announced it was expected to remove 450 tons of plastic waste every year. This project was ended after less than two years and less than one ton of plastic waste removed from the Ganges.

The Chemical Conversion Business Model

Braven Environmental is currently constructing a chemical conversion facility in Cumberland County, VA. It is going to cost $31.7 million to bring this facility online and received a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and $65,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. The public information on Braven is pretty minimal, but we found a presentation they gave for the Southeast Recycling Development Council about their Zebulon, NC facility that provides helpful facts to understand their business model. 

This facility in North Carolina is not recycling plastic waste generated in the state. Braven has a 20 year contract with Sonoco Packaging, and international company who pays Braven to take their plastic waste. Sonoco Packaging is shipping plastic waste into North Carolina. Braven hasn’t actually released any data about their products, but have said their new Virginia facility will produce 14.4 million gallons of PyChem. PyChem is a fossil fuel that is going to be burned, generating greenhouse gas emissions. THIS IS A PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTION FACILITY. Our elected officials are selling us out to the fossil fuel industry.

Nexus is a company that is often highlighted as a success story by the ACC. What is Nexus actually doing? Nexus has a chemical conversion facility outside of Atlanta and a partnership with Shell. The ACC really likes to say Nexus is taking plastic waste from Atlanta area neighborhoods, but are they? Nexus sources more than 75% of their feedstock from regional plastic brokers (these are companies that sell plastic scrap). Nexus does say they participate with the Hefty Energy Bag program where residents of Cobb county can purchase orange Hefty bags to fill with difficult to recycle items. The Hefty Energy Bag program was the greenwashed brainchild of Dow, one of the leading plastic pollution offenders. Nexus has not released any information about how much plastic waste the Hefty program has collected.

This program also forces people who want to recycle to pay more money to recycle products manufactured by the wealthiest corporations on the planet, because they have to buy the specific bags for their plastic to be collected. Nexus also participates in Atlanta’s CHARM program. The CHARM program is a city funded drop off station where people can PAY to leave their difficult to recycle items (plastic film, styrofoam, etc.). Again, this is another tax on regular folks who want to do the right thing. People are essentially paying Shell to take their plastic waste back.

Agilyx, located in Oregon, is another “success” story that the ACC likes to talk about. In 2016 this plant was shut down because it was unable to remain profitable producing fuels from plastic and retrofitted to produce styrene. In 2018, this facility sent 49,000 tons of waste styrene, which is a known toxin, to be burned in cement kilns in low income communities. The minimal “high quality” styrene this facility produces is sent to a facility in Louisiana to produce polystyrene. In 2019, more than 30% of polystyrene this plant produced was lost during processing. For every 1 kilogram of Styrene the Agilyx produces, it generates 3.23 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

This change in strategy has not helped Agilyx become a profitable company, as of September 30, 2020, Agilyx had a negative income of $5,961,000. This company received over half a million dollars from the state of Oregon and continues to operate in the red. The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives has a great case study about chemical conversion, and we highly encourage you to read it.  

Reduce Plastic Waste at its Source

So, if we don’t want chemical conversion facilities, what do we want? Polluting corporations must play an active financial role in reducing plastic pollution. They must change their business model so the onus to clean up this mess is not left on regular people and cash strapped municipalities. We want the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act (BFFPPA). The BFFPPA is the solution to the plastic pollution crisis that the ACC is trying to stop. Why do they want to stop the BFFPPA? Because it will force ACC member companies to play an active role in cleaning up the mess they have created. The BFFPPA will implement a nationwide bottle deposit program, ban common single use plastics, place a 3 year moratorium on permitting new plastic manufacturing facilities, and implement extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR would mandate that these companies are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products. If a company produces 1,000 tons of plastic, they will be mandated to collect 1,000 tons of plastic. Not allowing corporations to skirt their duty of being responsible members of society is the answer to the plastic pollution crisis.

In 2020 Shell had earnings of almost $5 billion. In 2019, ExxonMobil has profits over $14 billion. In 2019 BASF had over $10 billion in profits. In 2019, Chevron Phillips had almost $3 billion in profit. In 2019, Total Petrochemical & Refining has close to $12 billion in profits. These are the wealthiest corporations on the planet, their wealth has been built by regular citizens across the planet. Fairfax County is expecting a budget shortfall of $40 million dollars in FY 2022, why are we asking cash strapped localities to prop up the profit margin of wealthy corporations?

We’ll end this by asking you who you believe? Are you going to take the word of corporations that have spent decades polluting the planet making absurd comments, or people who are actively working to protect our communities and natural spaces from corporate polluters who are only looking to extract profits. Our elected officials think the petrochemical industry is going to save us, we’ll point to climate change and the disturbing amount of plastic pollution overwhelming the planet to say they won’t. Because sometimes a cigar is just a (cancer causing) cigar, right? Right.

Let your Virginia elected official know you oppose SB 1164!