Exxon Mobil's 'Advanced' Technique for Recycling Plastic? Burning It

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Los Angeles Times:

In recent years — as longstanding efforts to recycle plastics have faltered — Exxon Mobil has touted advanced recycling as a groundbreaking technology that will turn the tide on the plastic crisis. But despite its seemingly eco-friendly name, the attorney general's lawsuit denounced advanced recycling as a 'public relations stunt' that largely involves superheating plastics to convert them into fuel.

At Exxon Mobil's only 'advanced recycling' facility in Baytown, Texas, only 8% of plastic is remade into new material, while the remaining 92% is processed into fuel that is later burned. [California attorney general Rob] Bonta's lawsuit seeks a court order to prohibit the company from describing the practice as 'advanced recycling,' arguing the vast majority of plastic is destroyed. Many environmental advocates and policy experts lauded the legal action as a major step toward ending greenwashing by Exxon Mobil — the world's largest producer of single-use plastic polymer... Advanced recycling, which is also called chemical recycling, is an umbrella term that typically involves heating or dissolving plastic waste to create fuel, chemicals and waxes — a fraction of which can be used to remake plastic. The most common techniques yield only 1% to 14% of the plastic waste, according to a 2023 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Exxon Mobil has largely used reclaimed plastic for fuel production while ramping up its virgin plastic production, according to Bonta.
The executive director of California Communities Against Toxics complains Exxon Mobil's 'advanced' recycling is 'the same technology we've had since the Industrial Revolution... a blast furnace.' (The article also quotes her as asking 'How is that better than coal?') And a UCLA researcher who studied the issue blames misperceptions about plastic recycling on 'an industry-backed misinformation campaign.' He agrees that the reality is 'having to burn more oil to turn that plastic back into oil, which you then burn.'

California's attorney general 'alleges Exxon Mobil has had a patent for this technology since 1978, and the company is falsely rebranding it as 'new' and 'advanced'... It recently reemerged after the company learned that the term 'advanced recycling' resonated with members of the public...'

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