Introduction:

Plastic pollution poses a massive challenge for India. The plastic recycling industry is taking shape with advanced chemical recycling innovations and initiatives. ExxonMobil has gotten into an impressive position in this context through its investment. This strategic investment is a great move towards sustainability and a solution to convert hard-to-recycle plastics into usable raw materials. In this article, we have explained how the investment addresses the global plastic waste problems and their impressive efforts to create a circular economy where the materials are reused rather than discarded. Let’s begin.

Exxonmobil will add to chemical recycling capacity:

ExxonMobil is on its way to investing $200 million to invest its ability to recycle plastics at its facilities in Baytown and Beaumont, Texas. The expansion plans include the upgrades of increasing the chemical recycling capacity at the Baytown and Beaumont facilities and by 2026, these upgrades should be ready. This will help the company recycle up to 500,000 tons of plastics across the globe by 2027.

ExxonMobil uses an advanced technology called Exxtend pyrolysis-based chemical recycling technology, which works well even for plastics that cannot be recycled traditionally. This investment is expected to address the growing concern of plastic waste accumulation and support a circular economy, where used plastics can be turned into new products instead of ending up as waste.

Vision and efforts:

Exxonmobil’s investment aligns well with its status as a key player in the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. This initiative focuses on their commitment to sustainability and enhancing their market position. Research from a leading stock analyzer shows that due to their leading position in the energy and petrochemical industry, their Price-to-earnings ratio is 14.91.

The recycling expansion and other strategic projects suggest that the company is positioning itself to capitalize on future market opportunities that can lead to an increase in its earnings and profitability.

Exxonmobil aims to recycle an additional of about 175,000 tons of plastics annually at Baytown and Beaumont thereby bringing the total to 250,000 tons per year. And since 2022, the Baytown facility alone has recycled plastic scrap of about 35,000 tons, making it one of the largest facilities in North America.

As a part of this mission, the company has planned to join hands with a company called Cyclyx to collect and sort the plastic waste in a better way. The recycled materials are used in over 15 countries for various products, including food packaging, pet food containers and so on. The demand for recycled products is growing across the globe. However, the technology itself has received some criticism and scrutiny on how effectively the technology is performing in handling plastic waste.

The mission also includes plans to build additional units to reach a global plastic recycling capacity of 500,000 tons per year by 2027. The company's goal is to continue recycling projects at its refining and manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and Asia as it works towards its goal of reaching 500,000 tons of scrap consumed by 2027 worldwide.

A quick introduction to Chemical recycling:

Chemical recycling is the process of breaking down hard-recycle plastics into raw materials and these materials can be used to make new products like fuels, lubricants and high-quality plastics.

The world is full of plastics and we talk about pollution, but we can’t deny their uses such as light weight, durability, versatility and immediate choice compared to other alternatives. To address the piling up of plastics the modern chemical industry has come up with solutions such as an advanced recycling process that converts plastic waste back to its molecular building blocks, where these building blocks are then used for making new plastics, transportation fuels and other products. This proven technology is essential for a futuristic world with improved recycling rates and a world that supports a circular economy.

Other chemical recycling processes that are stirring up the market:

Recent advancements in the chemical recycling of plastic scrap significantly enhance sustainability by addressing some key challenges of traditional recycling methods. Here are some of the latest developments in the chemical recycling of plastics:

Enzymatic recycling:

This method uses enzymes to break down specific plastics, like PET, into their original monomers. These monomers are then reused to produce new plastics, ensuring high-quality recycling with minimal contamination.

Depolymerization:

This new technology breaks down plastics like polystyrene and polyethylene into monomers. The resulting materials are then polymerized to create plastics with properties similar to virgin materials, which supports a circular economy for plastics.

Dissolution recycling:

This method is a solvent-based approach that separates polymers from additives without disturbing their molecular structure. It is especially useful in recycling polymers such as polypropylene, polystyrene, and nylon.

Nanotechnology applications:

Nanotechnology is being leveraged to break down plastics at a molecular level and thereby improve the performance of recycled materials. This approach is adopted to enhance material quality and also expands the types of plastics that can be recycled.

Advanced sorting technologies:

Innovations in AI and sensor-based sorting systems are improving the separation of recyclable materials and these technologies help reduce contamination and increase recycling efficiency.

What are the possible global implications and how this might affect our country?

This is a great question associated with the context as every incident in the petrochemical industry has a rippling effect that grows across the globe. Now, Exxonmobil’s expansion of chemical recycling capacity is expected to have a notable global implication, especially that is linked with the environmental challenges posed by plastic waste and promoting a circular economy.

Since advanced recycling complements the existing recycling methods, it adds efficiency in transforming plastic waste into raw materials that can be used to make valuable products. Moreover, advanced recycling is a vital element of the circular economy where this circularity includes the entire life cycle of the plastics, right from designing them, recycling them and improving waste management systems. Therefore it is attracting a lot of investors across the globe.

The investment creates opportunities for other companies that are into processing plastic waste. For instance, Cyclyx international company which was created through a partnership between Agilyx, ExxonMobil, and LyondellBasell, they have decided to go with their construction of Cyclyx Circularity Centre. The recycling facility will be located in Houston, United States. The centre is expected to recycle more plastics into usable materials thereby contributing to a more sustainable future.

The facility is built with a capacity to produce 136,000 tonnes or 300 million pounds of plastic feedstocks every year. ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell the two largest players in the petrochemical and recycling industries are collaborating on the project. These two companies have revealed that they will have the “offtake rights”, meaning that they will have the right to purchase the recycled feedstock produced at the facility for their use in their own recycling and manufacturing processes.

These two companies have announced that they are collectively investing $135 million in the project for the construction costs and operating costs. The facility is expected to begin operations by mid-2025.

India generates a substantial amount of plastic waste with challenges in managing the non-recyclable or low-value plastics. Advanced recycling technologies such as those used by Cyclyx, are difficult-to-recycle materials such as multilayer packaging, food wrappers, and bottle caps thereby reducing the plastic waste burden on landfills.

These investments and developments in the recycling sector are expected to inspire similar innovations and operations across Asia and countries like India. Thereby catalyzing investments in the chemical recycling infrastructure creating jobs and growing the waste management systems.

Some thought-provoking questions:

If ExxonMobil’s chemical recycling technology is poised to handle up to 500,000 tons of plastic waste every year by 2027, how can similar scalable models be adapted to cater to India’s 3.4 million tons of annual mismanaged plastic waste?

What kinds of policy frameworks can India develop to encourage the adoption of advanced recycling technologies, balancing the costs and environmental benefits?

Since chemical recycling methods are energy intensive, how can countries like India ensure the process is powered sustainably to avoid undermining climate goals?

Take away:

India generates over 9.4 million tons of plastic waste annually, of which 40% of the waste is uncollected, leading to severe environmental and health issues. Less than 10% of the plastics are recycled across the globe. Well-implemented plastic recycling sector can contribute up to $2 billion annually to the Indian economy. Therefore chemical recycling methods, inventions and the recycling sector possess great opportunities. If the circular economy goals are integrated successfully, our nation could become a key hub in the recycled plastics market in the whole world.