If you think that the Trump administration cutting regulations at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is always bad for the environment, think again. Inexplicably, the previous administration brought 18 new rules forward in 2023 that prevented technological advancement in the recycling process. Now, under the new administration, the EPA just withdrew all 18 of those proposed rules at once, making recycling easier than ever before.
When most people hear “recycling,” they think of mechanical recycling – the process by which some types of plastic can be cut up into tiny pieces and melted down into plastic pellets, which manufactures then use to make new products. Advanced recycling, on the other hand, applies to the types of plastic that cannot be recycled mechanically. It’s a scientific process in which heat and specialized chemicals are used to return various types of plastic to their original molecular building blocks, yielding raw material for manufacturing.
The 18 rules proposed by the previous administration, which have now been withdrawn, specifically sought to limit the types of materials that can go into the advanced recycling process. As many opponents have pointed out since the rules were proposed, these rules lacked scientific basis and exceeded EPA’s authority. Worst of all, they didn’t even make any sense.
Advanced recycling involves a thermal transformation process whereby the chemical inputs that the EPA sought to regulate on the front end can be removed during the process itself. Furthermore, we can yield usable raw materials from the advanced recycling process instead of taking new material from the ground, and it’s obviously a far better use of waste plastic than sending it to landfills. Recycling reduces waste, which reduces pollution. Fixing and eliminating rules that discourage innovation in recycling, therefore, will lead to less pollution and a better environment.
If these proposed rules had gone into effect, they would have threatened to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in recycling investments expected to be made domestically over the course of the next 10 years. Companies are ready to invest in advanced recycling because it’s a commonsense solution to a complex problem. Companies have ambitious sustainability goals, and mechanical recycling will only help them achieve a certain percentage of their metrics for success.
When it comes to recycling, we need an all-of-the-above strategy. We should keep investing in the circular lifecycle of plastic by finding new ways to convert waste plastic back into usable material. Once the mechanical recycling options are exhausted for a given set of plastics, advanced recycling is the only sustainable option available.
Advanced recycling can help us build a circular economy at scale, where we reuse and recycle many more plastics than we do today. Advanced recycling can also help us strengthen our domestic supply chains, create good-paying American jobs, and conserve our natural resources. The current leadership at the EPA evidently understands all that, given the withdrawal of these misguided rules from the previous administration, but the American public may not be aware of the regulatory roadblocks that companies have to dismantle just to recycle plastic more efficiently.
The Trump administration has promised to unleash American manufacturing. Today, the EPA is making good on that promise. As we invest in domestic manufacturing, advanced recycling is a critical tool for investing in re-manufacturing. Hopefully the new leadership at EPA will continue the good work of cutting misguided regulations and advancing a new all-of-the-above framework that will serve both American industry and our environment.
Andrew Langer is Director of the Center for Regulatory Freedom at the CPAC Foundation
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