From the insides of computers, to the plastic exterior of smart phones, to the insulating coating on nearly every single wire of our electronic devices, petrochemical products are critical to enabling the innovation and disruptive technological advancements that make our world and lives better.
Last spring,11-year-old Q’yaron Gadsonrode his bicycle up to a neighbor mowing his lawn to ask if he could assume the job that summer to gain work experience.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This decision by the Canadian government to designate plastic manufactured items as “toxic” is unwarranted and not based in science.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - This is a poorly devised bill that runs contrary to its purported purpose of improving the global environment. Banning the export of U.S. manufactured petrochemicals and polymers is shortsighted and will negatively impact global supply chains for essential materials and products.
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.
With recent plastic waste legislation from New York and New Jersey making headlines, we sat down with AFPM Senior Director of Petrochemicals, Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Benedict to discuss the petrochemical industry’s role in reducing plastic waste, new technological breakthroughs and how AFPM analyzes plastic waste policy proposals.
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.
The U.S. petrochemical industry has a crucial and enduring role to play in meeting the needs of a growing world population while simultaneously fulfilling the imperative to produce petrochemicals in a sustainable and clean manner.
Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas are the building blocks for products that protect our military personnel, create medical advancements to help save lives in combat, and aid our wounded warriors.