An engineer scoops a handful of tiny pellets out of a stainless-steel canister at a manufacturing plant in the Netherlands and rolls them around in his hand.
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 the House Concurrent Resolution 112, expressing the sense of Congress opposing President Obama's proposed tax on every barrel of oil:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President Chet Thompson released the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address:
As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer driving season, many begin to pay closer attention to gasoline prices. This should be no surprise since over 37 million...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Chet Thompson, President and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, made the following statement regarding the Administration’s announcement of tariffs on products made in Mexico.