A Virginia Senate committee passed SB1164, and it has crossed over to the House Agriculture, Chesapeake & Natural Resources committee for consideration. This bill would weaken environmental oversight and permitting of chemical plants that melt down plastic waste to turn it into fuel, or more plastic. The chemical and plastics industries have branded this “Advanced Recycling," but the truth is that this bill would give these polluting industries a green light to build these experimental chemical plants in Virginia, often near communities of color who are already impacted by excessive air and water pollution. The American Chemistry Council has pushed to introduce this type of bill all over the nation.

These “pyrolysis” plants will not reduce the use of single use plastics or solve the recycling problem -- on the contrary, they will feed the demand for continued use of disposable plastics to benefit the petrochemical industry. It’s not recycling at all.

We need your help to tell the House committee members to vote NO on SB1164.

The bill would exempt these Chemical Conversion plants from being regulated as solid waste facilities, making it much easier for them to be financed and built with reduced environmental oversight. The terms “chemical recycling” or “advanced recycling” are used by the fossil fuel industry to greenwash a polluting and carbon intensive process that is riddled with system failures and will make the plastic and climate crisis worse. About 50% of the carbon content of waste plastics is typically lost as greenhouse gases during the chemical conversion.

79% of waste to energy facilities are located in low-income and communities of color. These facilities expose residents to harmful particulates that cause cancer, respiratory illnesses, and neurological disorders. Chemical Conversion facilities release toxic chemicals including lead, arsenic, mercury, bisphenol-A, cadmium, benzene, and volatile organic compounds.

Take action today to demand answers and to halt this bill before it’s too late. If Virginia is serious about becoming a leader in green energy and reducing greenhouse gases, this is not a step in the right direction. In fact, it will make our air worse and drive up a demand for plastic.