- A coalition of environmental groups, public health advocates, and environmental justice community leaders in New Mexico have urged state lawmakers to reject a proposal to incentivize chemical recycling.
- The coalition argues that chemical recycling is a flawed approach to dealing with plastic waste and would perpetuate the “throwaway culture” that leads to environmental degradation and health risks.
- They say that chemical recycling can produce hazardous byproducts and emit harmful pollutants, posing significant risks to environmental justice communities and disadvantaged areas.
- They also contend that chemical recycling is a distraction from more effective solutions to plastic pollution, such as reducing waste, increasing recycling, and transitioning to a circular economy.
- The coalition is calling for the state to invest in proven waste reduction and recycling programs and to prioritize public health and environmental justice in its policies and regulations.
By Resource Recycling, Inc. | January 31, 2023
Over 70 organizations and businesses signed a letter to New Mexico’s governor last week, asking her not to classify chemical recycling as recycling.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a democrat, attended the opening of a PlastikGas demonstration facility in Los Lunas, N.M. last year, which is driving the letter writers’ concerns…
Ana Rios, New Mexico field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, said in a press release that communities “already overburdened by toxic air pollution and environmental injustice are the very ones who will be subjected to the additional harms” from the facilities.
Alexis Goldsmith, organizing director for Beyond Plastic, called pyrolysis, gasification and solvolysis “false recycling.” Sarah Pierpont, executive director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition called them “false solutions.”
Read more from Resource Recycling, Inc.
