JUNE 3, 2026
EPA Moves to Clarify Clean Air Act Rules for Advanced Plastic Recycling Technologies
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a plan to encourage advanced recycling, an umbrella term for technologies that break down used plastics into molecular components for remanufacturing. The EPA has accepted public comments on a rule that would clarify advanced recycling facilities — specifically those using pyrolysis — should not be classified as incineration under the Clean Air Act. Zeldin said the change could lead to dozens more such facilities operating in the United States, compared to fewer than 10 currently in operation.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced an initiative to expand advanced plastic recycling in the United States, centered on a regulatory clarification under the Clean Air Act. The agency has opened a public comment period on a proposed rule that would distinguish pyrolysis — a process that uses heat in the absence of oxygen to convert used plastics into raw materials — from incineration and other disposal technologies.
The Washington Examiner published an opinion piece by Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers at the American Chemistry Council, arguing that the current Clean Air Act framework was written before pyrolysis was used in plastic recycling contexts and has since been misapplied. Eisenberg said the misclassification has left potentially dozens of facilities "in limbo," making them costly and difficult to build. The piece represents the plastics industry's perspective, and no independent scientific or environmental advocacy voices were included.
Zeldin cited economic projections in support of the rule change, stating that advanced recycling could add more than 173,000 jobs and nearly $13 billion in annual payroll to the U.S. economy. The EPA also noted that one existing facility in Texas processes 50,000 tons of plastic per year into raw materials. The source of the 173,000-job projection was not identified in the available coverage.