ACC poll shows public support — and skepticism — for chemical recycling

As state legislative fights over chemical recycling pick up around the country, new polling from the American Chemistry Council suggests strong public support among voters in the key battleground of New York.

Ahead of an industry push to pass legislation in the Empire State, ACC released a public opinion poll of 1,000 registered voters on April 27 that said 80 percent back laws to make it easier to build chemical recycling plants in the state.

"This poll … makes clear advanced recycling has massive political support from voters all across New York," said Joshua Baca, ACC's vice president of plastics, using the term for chemical recycling favored by some in the industry.

However, environmental groups that oppose it questioned the poll, and one predicted the industry-backed legislation will not be able to pass in New York before lawmakers adjourn in early June.

"Had the American Chemistry Council worded their question accurately, we believe they would have gotten very different results," said Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former regional administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency. "The plastics industry is attempting to mislead the public again with claims about the promise of 'chemical recycling' or 'advanced recycling' as a viable way to deal with plastics."

There's some evidence in the poll that points to public skepticism in line with the environmental groups, including concerns around economic viability and pollution. But ACC says the detailed poll results point to support being stronger than opposition in voters' minds.

The ACC poll comes as New York, New Jersey and several New England states are considering legislation that would change laws to regulate chemical recycling as manufacturing plants, rather than as solid waste operations. Eighteen states around the country have passed similar laws, including four this year.

The poll, conducted April 8-18 by Public Opinion Strategies, found that 79 percent of respondents favored advanced recycling and 21 percent opposed, after arguments on both sides were presented.

ACC said the results showed that voters will support politicians who back advanced recycling, with 85 percent saying they're more likely to vote for a candidate who supports the technology.

The strongest backing came from Democrats, at 91 percent, ACC said.

The plastics group said it tested messages both in support and opposition to advanced recycling and found that messages in opposition "were not as persuasive as messages in support."

The poll said the top five messages in support, which it said were convincing to about 80 percent of respondents, included that the technology would divert material from landfills, create hundreds of green-collar jobs and provide a $500 million economic boost annually, if New York state could capture 25 percent of plastics and send them to advanced recycling facilities.

As well, detailed results said that 80 percent of respondents found it convincing that advanced recycling would "allow us to continue to have the benefits of plastics while significantly reducing its environmental impact" and that plastics are "vital to modern life."

The poll found some of the highest support — 82 percent — for arguments that advanced recycling could increase plastics recycling rates, reduce litter and pollution, and produce plastics with a fraction of the carbon impact of new plastics.

"We … know advanced recycling diverts waste from landfills, further lowers the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of plastics and creates jobs," Baca said.

However, the results also showed public skepticism, although at lower levels than the support. Between 60-70 percent of the respondents said they found it convincing that advanced recycling amounts to "burning plastics on an industrial scale [and] releases toxic pollution into our air" and that the plastics industry has not been honest about recyclability of its products.

The poll said that 61 percent of voters were swayed by arguments that the industry is pushing advanced recycling because it wants to quadruple plastics production and that plastics will soon surpass coal as a driver of climate change.

The arguments against chemical recycling that drew the most support, with 70 percent finding it convincing, were those that questioned the economic viability and whether most of the plastic waste would ultimately be turned into fuels, not new plastic, speeding up global warming.

ACC said the results do show public concerns, but it said that's partially because it's a relatively new concept and voters are willing to consider both sides.

The bottom line, it said, was that more voters found arguments in favor of advanced recycling "very convincing" — in a range of 34-42 percent — compared with arguments against, which had stronger agreement down in a range between 22-27 percent.

"While yes, some voters have concerns, in a fair exchange of arguments, the 'very convincing' results shows that the messaging for the proposal is stronger compared to the messaging against it," ACC said.

The group said the study design was fair because it tested strong messages on both sides.

Environmental groups questioned what the poll reveals, with a representative of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives saying it shows that "voters want to believe that we can wave a magic wand" and solve plastic waste problems.

"The vast majority of these projects turn plastic … back into a fossil fuel that's then burned, releasing harmful emissions that threaten our climate and public health," said Neil Tangri, GAIA's science and policy director. "The petrochemical industry is simply distracting lawmakers and the public with technological fantasies while they continue to churn out more single-use plastic. … It's time to scale back plastic production."

Enck, who ran EPA's regional office for New York, New Jersey and U.S. territories during President Barack Obama's administration, predicted the legislation will face hurdles in New York's state Legislature.

"I do not expect them to pass," she said. "Neither has passed out of committee."

Enck said chemical recycling facilities "do not get built without massive taxpayer subsidies," and she said the poll should have asked voters if they support that.

She pointed to Brightmark LLC's decision earlier in April to end its plans for a $680 million chemical recycling plant in Macon, Ga., which would have required $500 million in local government bonds. That project ran into opposition from Macon's mayor.

"Americans support true recycling — something that can effectively be done with materials like aluminum and paper that can be turned back into similar products and used again many times," she said.

But ACC said advanced recycling is key to recycling much more plastic, particularly hard-to-recycle materials like flexible film pouches.

The group pointed a 2021 study from Closed Loop Partners that estimated that advanced recycling could help double the plastics packaging recycling rate by 2030.

"Through these cutting-edge technologies, many more types of plastics can be recycled compared to traditional, or mechanical, recycling, which currently has only achieved a plastics recycling rate of about 9 percent," ACC said.