The Center for Climate Integrity has issued a scathing report on the disinformation promoted by Big Oil and the plastic industry. In fact, industy claims about “advanced recycling” are “undermined by their own words and experts.
“’The Fraud of Advanced Recycling’ shows how, in response to growing public and governmental pressure, Big Oil and the plastics industry are now deceptively marketing “advanced” recycling to the public, even as chemical engineering experts, industry consultants, trade associations, and plastics producers themselves quietly acknowledge its many flaws.
Faced with the enormity of the plastic waste crisis, the idea of a straightforward solution is appealing for the public, policymakers,
and plastics producers alike. The plastics industry’s large-scale disinformation campaign is intended to present advanced recycling as that solution. But — especially given the plastics industry’s long history of deceptively promoting recycling as a way to relieve public pressure to address the waste they produce — policymakers cannot ignore the overwhelming evidence that the promotion of advanced recycling does not reflect the technical or economic realities of chemical recycling technologies. Rather, it is simply the latest attempt by Big Oil and the plastics industry to deflect attention from the myriad problems with plastics in order to continue producing ever-greater amounts of plastic, regardless of the consequences. The petrochemical companies responsible for this coordinated campaign of deception should be held accountable.”
