Joshua Baca, the head of the American Chemistry Council's plastics division, has left the organization, a spokesman said June 22.
No details were immediately available on Baca's departure, but ACC said Lee Salamone, senior director of product advocacy, will take over as interim head of the plastics division while a search for Baca's successor is underway.
The plastics division represents the political interests of resin makers.
Salamone is a 25-year employee of ACC in two separate stints. Currently she oversees ACC's Center for the Polyurethanes Industry, the CPI Spray Foam Coalition and the Polycarbonate-BPA Global Alliance.
Baca joined ACC in September 2020, bringing a background in Washington politics to the group at a time when the plastics industry is facing increasing pressure over environmental issues from all levels of government.
ACC spokesman Matthew Kastner confirmed in a text message that Baca is longer with ACC but said he could not comment beyond that, noting it was a personnel matter.
ExxonMobil Product Solutions executive Dave Andrew, who chairs the plastics division's operating committee, also declined to comment.
ACC's website listed Baca as "former" vice president of the plastics division on June 22.
Baca's LinkedIn page on June 22 listed him in the ACC job and did not show a new job.
During his time at ACC, the group secured legislative victories in a number of state capitals around chemical recycling laws. The plastics division also released a more detailed federal legislative agenda and, most recently, Baca was active as a spokesman and lobbyist for the industry at the plastics treaty negotiating round in Paris that wrapped up June 2.
Just before the treaty talks, ABC News broadcast a story on problems with plastic bag recycling that interviewed Baca. In the interview, he initially seemed unclear about a bag recycling program that ACC supports, then in an unusual follow-up as the TV crew was leaving ACC offices, he tried to clarify.
There are also signs of tougher political situations ahead for the industry.
The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft national plastics strategy in April that environmental groups saw as limiting chemical recycling. Securing favorable regulatory environments around chemical recycling is a key policy priority for the plastics industry lobbying groups.
It's the second major change in leadership in a Washington-based plastics organization in the last 15 months, with the Plastics Industry Association dismissing its former president and CEO, Tony Radoszewski, in March 2022.
Before joining ACC, Baca had been a senior executive at the American Beverage Association and had worked at Washington public affairs firms, serving as managing director at political and brand consulting firm Marathon Strategies LLC and as an executive at DDC Public Affairs.
He had also been national coalitions director for the 2012 Republican presidential campaign for Mitt Romney and had worked in Congress for former New Mexico Rep. Heather Wilson.