ExxonMobil's McKee on new advanced recycling facility in Baytown: 'There is substantial demand for recycled plastics'

ExxonMobil opened a new large-scale advanced recycling facility in Baytown earlier this month, per a company-issued press release. 

Operations have been underway since Dec. 14, with the Irving-based oil and gas corporation describing the startup as successful. 

“We’ve proven our proprietary advanced recycling technology at Baytown, and now we’re leveraging our scale and integration to increase production of certified circular plastics to meet growing demand,” ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company president Karen McKee said in the release.

According to ExxonMobil, the facility can break down over 80 million pounds per year of plastic waste. 

“There is substantial demand for recycled plastics, and advanced recycling can play an important role by breaking down plastics that could not be recycled in traditional, mechanical methods,” McKee said in the release. “We are collaborating with government, industry and communities to scale up the collection and sorting of plastic waste that will improve recycling rates and help our customers around the world meet their sustainability goals.”

The company said it has recycled approximately 15 million pounds of plastic waste since the start of pilot operations in Baytown in 2021. 

It helped found the Houston Recycling Collaboration to help boost advanced recycling. 

Per the release, it intends to build advanced recycling facilities worldwide, with its initial assessment on sites in Beaumont; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Joliet, Illinois in addition to facilities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and Canada.

ExxonMobil said that it is also working with third parties on improvements to plastic waste collection and sorting in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The goal is to achieve global capacity to recycle 1 billion pounds yearly of used plastics by the end of 2026 as part of a challenge to address plastic waste.