Plastics industry mulls election results

Following Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 presidential election, the plastics and chemicals industries are processing what may lie ahead in an environment that is likely to have drastic reductions in regulation and an emphasis on fossil fuels.

In some ways, the lack of federal recycling policy could insulate the sector from major policy impacts following a shakeup at the federal level.

“U.S. states have been the traditional leaders in passing policies to improve recycling and reduce plastic pollution,” said Kate Bailey, chief policy officer with the Association of Plastic Recyclers, in a statement. “We expect that to continue and to be strong for many years to come because polls show there is widespread support to improve recycling and reduce plastic waste. APR’s policy focus has been at the state level, and we will continue to prioritize working with state legislatures to improve recycling collection and increase the use of recycled plastics in place of virgin feedstocks.”

APR owns Resource Recycling, Inc., publisher of Plastics Recycling Update.

“Spending public funds for the sake of sustainability, rather than efficiency, is most likely in the past,” said Bailey Robin, cofounder and CEO of recycled commodity trading platform Matium. He added that it would be important to see how tariffs may affect the industry.

Similarly, in a presentation at Pack Expo before the election, Rebecca Marquez, director of custom research at PMMI: Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, said that long-term, the trade association did not anticipate any federal packaging extended producer responsibility legislation because the U.S. is too fragmented, so such schemes would likely remain state responsibilities.

Future of IRA in jeopardy

Although Trump has not specified plans regarding recycling, he has pledged to do away with unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, which has helped greenlight such projects as Eastman’s second U.S. chemical recycling plant in Longview, Texas.

“Eastman is already under award contract with the DOE for our project in Texas,” said spokesperson Kristin Parker. “We are working together closely and don’t believe the change in White House leadership will impact our award.”

In March, the project was awarded up to $375 million in funding and was to begin negotiations with the U.S. Department of Energy. During negotiations, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations – which administers the Industrial Demonstrations program that selected Eastman – and the recipient finalize the project scope and the proposed budget. “The complexity of the project, the selectee’s responses, and OCED’s reviews will all impact the negotiation timeline,” according to the office’s website.

In a Nov. 1 earnings call, Eastman CEO Mark Costa said that for the Longview project, “the good news is unlike Kingsport, we have support from the federal government. So we’ve got $375 million of funding coming in from the DOE.”

He added that although the election held uncertainties, “I think that they’re not going to have a direct impact on what we do right now in any significant way. I think the markets are stable. I don’t think the policy changes that could be made right now would have a significant impact one way or another.”

Regarding the DOE grant, Eastman CFO William McLain said, “We’ve gotten the first phase approved and we’re going to be receiving the cash as we make progress on the investment and on the project overall.”

In a September speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump said he would “rescind all unspent funds” under the IRA.

However, in an August letter to House speaker Mike Johnson, 18 Republican lawmakers said, “As Members of the House Republican Conference, we write to urge you to prioritize business and market certainty as you consider efforts that repeal or reform the Inflation Reduction Act.”

They continued: “Today, many U.S. companies are already using sector-wide energy tax credits – many of which have enjoyed bipartisan support historically – to make major investments in new U.S. energy infrastructure. We hear from industry and our constituents who fear the energy tax regime will once again be turned on its head due to Republican repeal efforts. Prematurely repealing energy tax credits, particularly those which were used to justify investments that already broke ground, would undermine private investments and stop development that is already ongoing. A full repeal would create a worst-case scenario where we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received next to nothing in return.”

Industry groups pledge to work with administration

In a Nov. 13 statement, the U.S. Plastics Pact said its mission was developed independent of shifting federal policies, and although the Pact has made progress toward targets for 2025 and beyond, “critical gaps remain at the federal level that limit our ability to fully achieve these targets, regardless of the administration in power. Today, there is still no federally established national recycling rate for plastics—an essential benchmark for measuring progress.”

The statement continued, “Although we don’t anticipate this becoming a priority for the next administration, plastics recycling is a bipartisan issue, and we remain committed to advancing the conversation within the supply chain.”

The Plastics Industry Association – along with the Recycled Materials Association, Radius Recycling, Eastman and Dow – was among more than 600 business leaders that signed a Nov. 5 letter from the National Association of Manufacturers pledging to work with whomever was elected.

NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons released a statement Nov. 6 saying “we are facing monumental headwinds today, and sector optimism is at its lowest levels in years. … We believe that we can build on the successes of our previous work together to roll back burdensome regulations, unleash American energy security, power the economy of the future with an all-of-the-above energy strategy and restore the dignity of manufacturing work.”

The American Chemistry Council released a statement saying, “The men and women of the chemical industry, and nearly every economic sector in the country, are relying on the Trump Administration to keep U.S. chemical manufacturing the most innovative and competitive in the world.”

This article was updated on Nov. 19 with additional industry reactions.