In the U.S the EPA wants to let plastic incinerators skirt Clean Air Act. If the proposal goes through, it means that pyrolysis facilities would have no environmental regulations, except any state laws. “There would be no pollution controls, no air monitoring, and no reporting requirements.”

The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to remove air emission regulations from plastic pyrolysis plants, also known as chemical or advanced recycling facilities, that essentially burn plastic to make fuel.

Pyrolysis plants are currently regulated as incinerators under the Clean Air Act. But buried in part IV of a proposal to change permitting requirements for incinerators during natural disasters, the EPA asks for public comment on the agency’s suggestion to remove the reference to “pyrolysis/combustion units” in the definition of “municipal waste combustion unit” in the emission guidelines for what the EPA calls “other solid waste incinerators.”