Dems urge EPA to keep chemical recycling air regs

More than 50 lawmakers sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urging he reverse course on loosening clean air regulations for nascent plastics recycling development.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and California Rep. Jared Huffman led the coalition of Democrats opposing a March proposal to remove pyrolysis and gasification from the Clean Air Act's definition of municipal waste combustion units.

The Trump administration's proposal aligns with a yearslong campaign from the plastics industry to reclassify the two high-heat processes as "manufacturing," a definition with less stringent federal protections.

Pyrolysis and gasification are among an array of "chemical" or "advanced" recycling technologies that transform hard-to-recycle plastics into an oily feedstock that can be used in fuel or repurposed as new plastic products.

"Technologies that worsen the climate crisis, perpetuate a reliance on single-use plastics, and adversely impact vulnerable communities cannot be viewed as viable solutions moving forward," the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

Environmental health groups have opposed chemical recycling technologies as deceptive and dirty practices that lack oversights on the chemical pollutants produced.

Zeldin has promoted chemical recycling technologies for having "limitless" potential to reduce plastic that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated.

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