In New York state, a bill to reduce plastic waste is moving forward in the state legislature amid a confusing debate over chemical recycling.
If passed, the bill would give New York state the strongest regulations in the nation regarding plastic packaging and could reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging in the state by 30 percent over the next 12 years. It would also require packaging manufacturers to fund recycling and disposal efforts.
The bill, the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, stalled in the past two Congresses. One of the obsessions of plastic producers is chemical recycling, which is a collective term for various processes that use heat, pressure, and chemicals to break down plastics after use.
Under the law, chemical recycling, despite its name, would not be classified as recycling, much to the chagrin of groups such as the American Chemistry Council, an industry group representing producers of plastic packaging.
“It’s like a giant corporation that pollutes everywhere it goes,” said state Sen. Pete Harckham, a co-sponsor of the bill, referring to chemical recycling. “That was one of the big obstacles.”
In a 2025 memo, the American Chemistry Council, along with business representatives and plastic manufacturers such as ExxonMobil, said packaging reduction mandates are “unreasonable” and that the bill “improperly” excludes chemical recycling. The council declined to respond to questions from Inside Climate News.
Chemical recycling, also known as advanced recycling, differs from mechanical recycling, where used plastics are shredded into small pellets and reused in new packaging. Most chemical recycling in the United States uses pyrolysis to break down plastics. Pyrolysis is an energy-intensive, high-heat process that produces oils and chemicals for new plastics.
They can also produce large amounts of what the Environmental Protection Agency calls “hazardous waste,” meaning anything that can harm human health or the environment. Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and current president of Beyond Plastics, a nonprofit organization focused on plastic production and environmental pollution, said the process doesn’t produce much new plastic.
Although the bill faces an uphill battle in the final three-and-a-half weeks of this session, Harkum said lobbyists will continue to advocate for chemical recycling in the bill, even though it’s a “red line” for environmentalists.
Is it recycled?
Approximately 15% of New York’s municipal solid waste is plastic. A 2022 study found that less than 10 percent of plastic waste is made from recycled materials. Plastic degrades when reused, so it cannot be recycled indefinitely like glass or metal.
Recycling plastics is complicated, said Helen Wiesinger, a chemist and science communicator at the Food Packaging Forum, a nonprofit organization that studies food packaging. She studies plastic recycling in Switzerland.
The industry touts chemical recycling, which can break down plastic and reuse its components, as a solution, but Wiesinger said that’s not always possible. Some of these chemicals in plastics don’t “break down” and many end up being burned as fuel.
The few chemical recycling plants in the United States typically use pyrolysis. Veena Singla, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council who studies chemical recycling, said pyrolysis is often inefficient. This is energy-intensive, requires extreme heat, and produces relatively few parts that can be used in new plastics, she said. Pyrolysis also produces oil from plastics, which can be used as fuel, but often needs to be diluted with fossil fuels to be used effectively, Singla said.
A view of the ExxonMobil Baytown petrochemical complex near Houston. The company has added a chemical recycling facility for waste plastic there. Credit: Carlos Chavez/CBS News
An ongoing 2024 lawsuit by the California Attorney General against pyrolysis-based chemical recycling operations claims that only 8% of the plastic waste received there is converted into raw material for new plastics.
About a dozen chemical recycling plants across the country are classified as “significant hazardous waste generators,” according to EPA documents. This hazardous waste often contains benzene, a chemical that can cause certain types of cancer and harm the bone marrow that produces red blood cells.
Alterra Energy, a chemical recycling facility in Akron, Ohio, released 130 pounds of benzene into the atmosphere through pipes and smokestacks in 2024, the company reported to the EPA. In the previous year, it reported transporting 60 tonnes of benzene, equivalent to the cumulative weight of approximately 27 cars, to be incinerated off-site.
Alterra Energy did not respond to a request for comment.
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This facility is regulated by multiple EPA programs and is classified as an incinerator under the Clean Air Act. But the Trump administration has proposed rules to change that.
In a recent opinion piece published in The Hill, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wrote that the agency would move toward classifying pyrolysis as a manufacturing industry and limiting the pollution regulations to which facilities would be subject.
Enck, a supporter of New York’s plastics bill, said he expects “significant concessions” will be made to pass the bill, but he insisted chemical recycling should not be included.
The bill passed the state Senate last year but was not introduced to the Assembly. If it passes both chambers this year, it will have to clear one final hurdle. Gov. Kathy Hochul could veto it or modify it through an informal agreement with the bill’s sponsor.
New York Focus reports that Hochul uses the “chapter amendment” process on an average of one in seven bills. Enck worries that plastic fees could be diluted that way.
When asked about this possibility, Harkham said, “You can compromise on the details, but you can’t compromise on the values.”
The bill would also ban certain toxic chemicals, such as PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” from plastic packaging. Harcum staff said recent bill amendments removed some toxic chemicals from the prohibited list and extended compliance deadlines for new programs and recycling requirements.
The bill “is central to New York City’s waste management strategy and climate change strategy,” Harckham said.
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Lauren Dalban is a New York City-based reporter with a background in local journalism. A former ICN Fellow, she is currently responsible for environmental issues for all five boroughs. A native of London, she earned a bachelor’s degree in history and English from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
