Opinion: Big Oil’s recycling lies are well documented. We need accountability.

The plastics industry has a major image issue one they ve tried to solve by selling the masses on plastic recycling As long as I ve been alive Big Oil and the plastics industry have pushed the narrative that recycling can solve the plastic waste situation all while knowing that actual recycling rates would never come close to matching the volume of plastic produced Despite decades of promises the recycling rate for plastic waste in the U S has stagnated at - As the society and policymakers have called for action on plastic waste collecting in our communities and now bodies the plastics industry has doubled down on the promise of plastic recycling now selling us so-called advanced recycling Last year California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against ExxonMobil charging the oil giant with deceiving the general about the recyclability of plastics The matter cites Exxon s long-standing knowledge that plastic recycling is not viable at scale and alleges that the company promoted it anyway in part as a strategy to offset sagging fuel sales with profits from plastic sales Related Articles Bay Area trash is being collected again but refund debate continues Tiny beetle big threat Protecting Bay Area s majestic oaks Countless Californians lack safe tap water and don t trust cleanup efforts How Democrats overcame special interests that long blocked CEQA transformation Largest campground at Yosemite National Park to reopen after million renovation The lawsuit alleges that Exxon is now doing the same thing with so-called advanced recycling Also known as chemical recycling advanced recycling is the new catchall term that Big Oil and the plastics industry uses to describe various processes that break down plastics into petrochemicals through the addition of heat pressure and or chemical solvents The apparatus has been explored as a approach for plastic waste since the s to little avail Attorney General Bonta asserts Exxon has merely rebranded this failed explanation in order to reassure the society while plastic production continues to grow exponentially The evidence backs him up In a new investigative summary my colleagues and I at the Center for Situation Integrity reveal that while plastics companies have heavily marketed advanced recycling as a key for plastic waste industry insiders consultants arrangement groups and key stakeholders have raised serious doubts about its feasibility As one industry consultant put it in advanced recycling has had minimal successes and a ton of failures Exxon s flagship plant in Baytown Texas for example has promised to process billion pounds of plastic per year by the end of But as of early it had only managed about million pounds over three years just of its goal From where I sit things look grim the consultant mentioned The fact that we don t have a really thriving affair evaluation at this point makes me think it s going to be all uphill to make chemical recycling work Even if it did work this alleged explanation would do little to address the growing dilemma The U S generates over million tons of plastic waste annually approximately one thousand times more plastic waste than Exxon s Baytown facility has processed in three years According to a analysis if all of the chemical recycling facilities in the U S operated at full quota which they don t they would be capable of processing only of U S plastic waste Put exclusively Advanced recycling is not a fix to the plastic waste dilemma and the industry knows it As with traditional plastic recycling the plastics industry is selling us advanced recycling not because it is a real remedy for plastic waste but because it is a proven cure for protecting plastic production This campaign of deception from Big Oil and the plastics industry underscores why California s lawsuit against Exxon is so vital If Big Oil and the plastics industry are allowed to continue peddling false solutions to delay action on plastics and fossil fuels for another years the consequences for the next generation will be dire Attorney General Bonta is demanding Exxon be held accountable for its fraud More functionaries should do the same Chelsea Linsley is a senior attorney at the Center for Conditions Integrity and a contributor to the new description The Fraud of Advanced Recycling How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry are Promoting a False Cure to the Plastic Waste Predicament