ACC provided a statement after viewing a CBS news report on plastic recycling.

ACC’s statement: CBS News aired a piece on plastics recycling, largely based on a report from the Center for Climate Integrity (February 2024), that relied on outdated information and a poor understanding of our industry, including the constructive steps America’s Plastics Makers® are taking to improve recycling through innovation, financial investment, and responsible public policies.

The American Chemistry Council responded to the CBS inquiry in full, below:

“Plastics are highly efficient and modern materials that are essential to meeting society’s needs for renewable energy, clean water, connectivity, and global health and nutrition. America’s Plastic Makers are working hard and making progress toward changing the way plastics are made and recycled.

“We’ve embraced an all-the-above approach that combines innovation, investments and good policy. Unfortunately, this flawed report, and CBS News story, use outdated, decades-old assertions and mischaracterizations to attack sound and viable technologies that can complement our current recycling practices to effectively manage plastic waste and meet demands for recycled content for use in new products. In numerous instances, the report’s authors demonstrate a lack of understanding about how today’s recycling technologies operate.

“While groups like the Center for Climate Integrity would like to ignore the investments in advanced recycling that are growing in the United States and the European Union, America’s Plastic Makers will continue to advocate for smart public policies, which include investing in recycling infrastructure and designing products that minimize excess material, incorporate recycled content and are more compatible with the recycling stream.”