Lupita Escandon has heard her fair share of “nos.” The mother of three young children had faced plenty of obstacles in balancing life at home with her dream of embarking on a career path for the betterment of her family and herself.
With a wave of retirements looming in the next decade, many in the petrochemical and refinery sectors are looking to a 40-year industry veteran to prepare the next generation of highly qualified workers.
Many waste items provide important value before being tossed into a bin. Discarded plastic products, for example, originally serve as packaging to keep school lunches fresh, lightweight bottles for efficiently transporting fresh water to hard-to-reach areas, containers for soaps and detergents that facilitate hygiene – and much more.
Plastic roads and buildings, the influence of energy and petrochemicals in geopolitics, and chemical and molecular recycling processes that could create a truly circular economy for plastic products were just a few of the topics discussed at AFPM’s 44th International Petrochemical Conference (IPC) in San Antonio last week.
As petrochemicals and recycling advancements give old plastic new life over and over again—from shoes and clothes made of recycled plastic recovered from the ocean, to plastic bottles being chemically recycled into fuel and a raw material to make new petrochemicals—what it means to “recycle” is changing right before our eyes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Statement by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President Chet Thompson on Congress’ passage of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act:
This career requires you to spend long periods of time away from home and travel great distances, but you also have the opportunity to work independently and see the country.