Missouri governor weakens hazardous waste rules, cuts regulation for ‘advanced recycling’

This is some bullshit. 

Environmental groups say advanced recycling itself emits considerable greenhouse gasses and creates fuels that are dirtier than existing gasoline while a paper funded by and using data from the industry claims exactly the opposite — that the resulting fuels have a reduced environmental impact (Getty Images).

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Friday weakening the state’s hazardous waste regulations and opening the door for a controversial type of recycling backed by the plastic industry and decried by environmentalists. 

Parson, a Republican, signed legislation to bar the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from enacting hazardous waste rules that differ in any way from Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

The bill also removes a permit requirement for chemical recycling facilities, often referred to as “advanced recycling.” 

Parson did not comment on either provision of the bill in his office’s news release. 

…

Often, opponents say, advanced recycling facilities don’t produce new plastics. Instead, they convert processed plastic waste into fuel to be burned — though the American Chemistry Council said that was the first phase of the technology’s development. The industry is transitioning to plastic-to-plastic recycling, the group said in an interview earlier this year.

There is also little agreement regarding the level of greenhouse gas emissions or risk from toxic waste associated with the process. 

During a House committee discussion on the bill, a representative asked the Sierra Club’s lobbyist, Michael Berg, whether it was better for plastic waste to wind up in a landfill or be converted into fuel and burned. 

“Probably to end up in the landfill,” Berg said. 

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