Note: Eastman Chemical Company’s first “molecular recycling” facility is now fully operational in Kingsport. It uses a process called methanolysis to reduce hard-to-recycle waste plastic to its original molecular state for reuse in plastic production. Eastman expects the main end product, recycled “DMT,” to capture large market share in durable plastic and packaging sectors because of it removes plastic from the waste stream and makes progress toward a “sustainable economy.” News Channel 11 got an exclusive first look around the facility and brings you this and other related stories.
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — As Eastman Chemical Company kept its foot on the throttle trying to scale up its Kingsport molecular recycling facility over the last several years, several local public recycling programs fell victim to high costs and low revenues.
In an ironic twist, one of them was Kingsport’s curbside program. A City whose backbone employer was touting its pending ability to use 100 metric tons of plastic waste a year and transform it into marketable products couldn’t afford to keep its own recycling service.
The irony isn’t lost on Eastman’s chief technology officer or the president of its plastics division. But Chris Killian and Scott Ballard expect a change in the recycling landscape for Northeast Tennesseans, and they think Eastman has a major role to play in the turnaround.
“There’s a role for companies like ourselves to help address that issue,” Killian told News Channel 11. “And so we’re doing it through advocacy, we’re doing it through local partnerships with Food City and others, and we will get there because we have to get there as a society.”
As it neared full production capacity in March, Eastman placed a recycling bin at one Kingsport Food City that accepts any 1 through 7-numbered plastics except 3. It added two more sites in the “Shop, Recycle, Repeat” partnership in April.
A recent study ranked Tennessee 48th among the states in its overall recycling effectiveness. In addition to Kingsport, Jonesborough dropped its curbside program and Elizabethton curtailed its drop-off sites within the last year.
Killian said Northeast Tennessee’s problems aren’t unique.
“It’s not just a Tri-Cities, Tennessee or a Tennessee issue, if you look at the U.S. and its recycling infrastructure, it needs to improve,” he said.
Even as the company pushed for what became a belated full ramp-up of production, though, Eastman staff were consulting with area governments and others to prepare a recycling infrastructure that could benefit both sides.
“The first thing we had to do was get this new-to-the-world technology stood up and running so that we built the demand for these recycled materials,” Killian said.
“What Eastman is doing through molecular recycling is creating value for that product,” Killian said of the particularly difficult-to-recycle plastics the company now needs as feedstock. “In my experience, in a society where we’re capitalism driven, people will build infrastructure to feed that growing need, and we’ll also partner and invest.”
A big get for the region would be a materials recovery facility, or MRF. Those specialized plants receive, separate and prep recyclable materials for marketing to end users. Eastman can take plastics that most MRFs can’t find a market for, which could make it more economically feasible for one to open regionally.
“We’re working with local government to try to bring MRFs back to the region,” Killian said. “If you bring MRFs back to the region coupled with a consistent, regular, value-add outlet for the material, I think you’ve really got the opportunity to solve the problem.”
Reviving recycling and getting the U.S. infrastructure where it needs to be isn’t going to happen without an all-hands-on-deck effort, Killian said.
“Smart regulation state by state to incentivize and drive higher efficiency curbside recycling rates are going to be absolutely important to addressing this waste plastics challenge,” he said.
“It’s not just a material supplier like Eastman that has to play a role there. There’s a consumer role, there’s a governmental role and then there’s a role for companies like ourselves to help address that issue.”
Ballard said he thinks the change is coming in every sector, including consumer brands and their stance on “extended producer responsibility” regulations. The industry had long resisted the regulations, which place a surcharge on companies that provide or use packaging and use those funds to help communities and states better afford robust recycling programs.
“There’s not a major one now that’s not advocating for it,” Ballard said. “A lot of them are advocating in Washington for there to be a federal bill so that they don’t have to deal with the state-by-state complexity, but most of them now see that they’re never going to get the plastic waste problem solved without some sort of responsible regulation.”
Meanwhile, he said, Eastman isn’t done partnering with Northeast Tennessee communities in the recycling realm.
“There’s some cool stuff. There’s some more stuff to be announced pretty soon.”
