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.
The operator of an 800-ton crane at ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, polypropylene project construction site lowers a new 150-foot-tall reactor into place.
We enter the official 2020 hurricane season in June with a full appreciation that this year brings additional challenges as our nation continues a fight against a different yet deadly type of storm.
Navigating our current health crisis offers frequent reminders of the critical role petrochemicals, particularly plastics, play in daily life — whether in the masks and gloves that protect our frontline health care providers, the containers that hold our takeout food, or the wrapping that keeps our groceries fresh and clean.
AFPM Senior Petrochemical Advisor Jim Cooper talks about the central role of petrochemicals in health care, and why the petrochemical industry is considered critical infrastructure.
