Exxon Mobil Corp. has begun production at a large-scale plastics recycling facility capable of processing 80 million pounds of plastics waste per year.
The company announced the successful startup at its Baytown, Texas, complex on Dec. 14. The plant is one of the largest plastics recycling facilities in North America, according to the company. Exxon is applying its Exxtend technology to break down hard-to-recycle plastics and transform them into raw materials for new products.
To help meet the growing market demand for certified circular plastics, Exxon plans to increase its annual advanced recycling capacity to 1 billion pounds, by year-end 2026 across multiple sites globally. Sites under consideration include Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Beaumont, Texas; and Joliet, Illinois; as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and Canada.
The company is “collaborating with government, industry and communities to scale up the collection and sorting of plastic waste,” says Karen McKee, president of Exxon Mobil Product Solutions Company. The company also is speaking 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.
Since the start of pilot operations at Baytown last year, Exxon has recycled nearly 15 million pounds of plastic waste.
