Conversion Technologies

The Florida House and Senate have passed House Bill (HB) 335—Resource Recovery and Management. The Plastics Division of the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC) says it welcomes the legislation.

“The ACC’s Plastics Division welcomes [this] first-of-its-kind legislation that will make Florida a welcoming environment for innovative businesses that convert post-use nonrecycled plastics into fuels, chemicals and chemical intermediates,” states Craig Cookson, senior director of recycling and energy recovery at ACC.

“We’re thrilled to see legislation that attracts new innovative businesses and supports the creation of new jobs by treating post-use plastics as the energy-rich resources they are by classifying them as equivalent to ‘recovered materials’ and not as ‘waste.’ HB335 ensures manufacturing facilities that convert these post-use plastics into liquid fuels, chemicals, waxes and lubricants are not wrongly classified as solid waste management facilities,” Cookson continues. “It also facilitates recognition that the conversion of post-use plastics into these valuable products will count as recycling and contribute to meeting Florida’s 75 percent recycling goal.”

Cookson adds, “New technologies, such as pyrolysis and gasification, are enabling manufacturers to recover more of the energy embodied in [discarded] plastics.”