"Gov. Wolf touted jobs and less plastic pollution when the plans were announced in April, but a professor from Carnegie Mellon who’s studied the technology says it can lead to “sustainability fraud.”"
"POINT TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania—Randall Yoxheimer, chairman of the locally elected board of supervisors here, has seen economic development proposals come and go, but the latest one—a $1.1 billion chemical recycling plant for plastic waste—has left him, and even some scientists, perplexed.
Announced in April, the plant would use first-of-its-kind technology and employ hundreds of workers to turn waste plastic into new plastic. With the promise of taking a bite out of a serious global plastics problem, the new facility sounds like a terrific idea, Yoxheimer said as he sat under the bright fluorescent lights of the township’s office.
The Houston startup company, Encina, that wants to develop the plant seems to have “excellent motives,” he said. But Encina officials provided township leaders with so little information that it’s hard to discern the promises from reality, Yoxheimer said.
“I am used to the way companies present themselves, and this company has been somewhat vague on a lot of things,” he said. “They are not terribly adroit in how they are trying to move forward. After they did that billion-dollar press release, we heard very little from them.”"
James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News September 6, 2022.
