ExxonMobil shares Carbon Footprint assessment of Advanced Recycling Technology
ExxonMobil has commissioned a carbon footprint assessment (ISO 14067) for advanced recycling as practiced in the United States. While we understand the scale and capabilities benefits of advanced recycling within integrated petrochemical facilities, we also wanted to know how it compared in terms of the carbon footprint estimate related to the base case when running units without waste plastics. We share below a summary, noting that actual results may vary:
The assessment was conducted by Sphera, a leading sustainability consulting group for life cycle assessments, and was reviewed by a panel of independent experts. The following conclusions are from Sphera’s assessment:
- Every 1,000 tons of waste plastics processed results in 185-525 tons CO2e (19-49%) lower GHG emissions than processing the same amount of fossil-based feedstock.
- This is a partial LCA study - The advanced recycling process assessed produced feedstocks that can later be used for the manufacture of various petroleum based products, including plastic polymer production. Further processing of the produced feedstock was not studied, the calculated GHG reduction also does not include the GHG impacts of diverting waste plastic from the alternative end of life (EoL) dispositions, such as landfill or incineration and waste-to-energy recovery.
As we step back and we ask ourselves where the positive results come from, this study reveals that waste plastic feedstock has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to fossil-based feedstock.
This is another important milestone on the journey of helping meet society’s evolving needs. We already knew that advanced recycling technology is advantaged in its capability to help address waste plastic conversion at scale and improve circularity. But Sphera’s peer-reviewed assessment demonstrates that plastic waste conversion can be done while at the same time improving GHG emissions on a feedstock basis.