ExxonMobil starts operations at large-scale recycling facility
ExxonMobil has successfully started operations at its large-scale advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas, U.S.A., one of the largest advanced recycling facilities in North America It is capable of processing more than 80 million pounds of plastic waste per year, supporting a circular economy for post-use plastics and helping divert plastic waste currently sent to landfills.
The facility uses proprietary technology to break down hard-to-recycle plastics and transform them into raw materials for new products. The proprietary ExxtendTM technology enables the breakdown of plastic waste that would previously be destined for landfills – from synthetic athletic fields to bubble wrap and motor oil bottles.
“We’ve proven our proprietary advanced recycling technology at Baytown, and now we’re leveraging our scale and integration to increase production of certified circular plastics to meet growing demand,” said Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company. “There is substantial demand for recycled plastics, and advanced recycling can play an important role by breaking down plastics that could not be recycled in traditional, mechanical methods. We are collaborating with government, industry and communities to scale up the collection and sorting of plastic waste that will improve recycling rates and help our customers around the world meet their sustainability goals.”
Since the start of pilot operations at Baytown last year, ExxonMobil has recycled nearly 15 million pounds of plastic waste. The company helped form Cyclyx International LLC, a joint venture created to collect and sort large volumes of plastic waste and is investing in a first-of-its-kind plastic waste processing facility in Houston to help supply ExxonMobil’s Baytown advanced recycling facility.
ExxonMobil plans to build advanced recycling facilities at many of its other manufacturing sites around the world, which would give it the capacity to process up to 1 billion pounds of plastic waste annually by year-end 2026. The company is assessing facilities in the United States, including in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Beaumont, Texas; and Joliet, Illinois; as well as sites in Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and Canada.
ExxonMobil is also collaborating with third parties to assess the potential for large-scale implementation of advanced recycling technologies and opportunities to support improvements to plastic waste collection and sorting in Malaysia and Indonesia.
