Plastic recycling plant eyes Thomaston as its landing site,  is met with mixed reception

A new organization, Upson Environmental & Government Transparency, was formed last month in response to a proposed $1 billion plastic pyrolysis facility from the California-based company Brightmark in Thomaston, Ga.

Brightmark, founded in 2016, previously aimed to build a similar facility in Macon, Ga., which would have been the world’s largest plastic-to-fuel facility but was unsuccessful, in large part due to local resident pushback. Now, Brightmark is being met with a similar response from residents of Thomaston, halfway between Columbus and Macon.

Brightmark says the proposed 2.5 million square foot facility will create over 200 new jobs and be a way to help Georgia fight plastic pollution. In a press release, it says it has been a Level One partner of the Georgia Recycling Coalition (GRC) since 2021. Level One, or Partner level, requires a payment of $3500 a year, though no other criteria were found.

Jennette Gayer, state director of Environment Georgia, said they haven’t seen a specific permit application yet but already have initial concerns.

“One of our basic concerns are the increased tractor-trailer traffic bringing plastics to the plant and train loads of toxic chemicals leaving the plant, plus toxic air emissions and the risk of fire and explosion,” Gayer said.

Of the top 100 Polluting Chemical Manufacturing Facilities in the U.S., three were located in Georgia as of 2018 according to a report produced by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives.

The facility will use Brightmark’s patented pyrolysis process, which is the heating of organic material in the absence of oxygen. In the case of plastics, which are synthetic organic compounds, they are heated into an oil or gas, which is then turned into a new product or refined to be used for fuel. The benefits of pyrolysis for plastics include a much lower carbon footprint compared to incineration, and theoretically, every plastic on the planet could undergo this process, including some that can’t be recycled with conventional methods.

Still, pyrolysis is not without potential drawbacks; they too can emit pollutants into the environment if not carefully managed, and pyrolysis techniques tend to be extremely energy intensive — far more demanding than the fuels they could produce would give.

The proposed facility will also be able to operate without a solid waste handling permit thanks to House Bill 785 (HB 785) passed in 2018 by the Georgia legislature, something Gayer said makes it easier for developments like this to come along without regulation.

“Before HB 785 passed, a facility like this would have needed to get a solid waste handling permit, which would have regulated how it stored and handled the plastic it is importing into Upson County,” Gayer said. “Similar facilities in the U.S. produce huge amounts of climate change pollution and dangerous toxins. There will also be air emissions from Brightmark’s plant and pollution from all the trucks transporting plastics into Upson County.”

Gayer added that Brightmark’s track record gives her and others cause for concern.

One undeniable truth, however, is that the planet needs solutions for the plastic we are using at an increasing rate. Gayer acknowledged this and said he thinks the lowest-hanging fruit is simply using less.

“The number one thing we can do is reduce the amount of plastic we use. We just celebrated this major victory with Amazon,” Gayer said.

For Gayer and others like her, reducing plastic use is the logical first step to reducing plastic waste, not a facility that could bring unforetold environmental impacts.

For Bob Powell, CEO of Brightmark and a Georgia native himself, this facility and others like it are reducing plastic waste — just in a different way. By leveraging the technology in the facilities, already-produced plastic can have multiple lives after its original use.

Powell said the first thing he can think of regarding sustainability dates back to gardening with his grandmother.

“We were in the garden one day, and she was putting a pesticide kind of thing onto the tomatoes,” Powell said. “And I remember her telling me that we need to be careful about how much pesticide we put on the tomatoes because when it rains, the pesticide is going to run off and go down into the drain, which is going to go into the creek, which is going to go into the river and the ocean.”

This was the start of understanding how interconnected the environment is, according to Powell, and part of the reason he’s looking to help plastic become more circular instead of ending as waste.

In the U.S., only about five to six percent of plastic is actually recycled — a number that’s shocking to many who would think it higher due to the highly recognizable recycle symbol on so many plastic bottles and waste bins. It turns out that symbol is more of a marketing gimmick than a seal of confidence.

Additionally, according to National Geographic, half of all plastics ever produced were made in the last 15 years as of 2023; for reference, plastic was first manufactured in 1907 and started becoming mass produced by the mid 1950s. In 2022, 400.3 million metric tons of plastic were produced, and all signs indicate that production will only increase, with some projecting nearly 600 million metric tons produced by 2050.

This is the underlying problem Brightmark is looking to play a part in fixing, said Powell, arguing that this facility would be pulling plastics out of the environment. Brightmark already has a plastic “circularity center” facility in Indiana using similar technology, and feels Georgia is the right next step for expansion.

“We can take every single plastic we use on the planet and turn it back into the products to completely remake the exact same plastics,” Powell said. That’s the power of the technology: creating a fully circular, take from the environment, create a product, and reproduce that exact same product.”

With the trends of plastic production, it’s difficult to say if a reliable way of recycling would ultimately curb plastic production due to the tonnes of existing plastics already produced or lead to even more production as the polymers would now be seen as more sustainable.

Powell also noted that Brightmark’s pyrolysis process, compared to traditional methods of making plastics, is better for the environment. Various studies support this claim, but to differing degrees and can vary widely depending on method and the plastic being produced originally. Moreover, as far as a recycling method, it has been found to emit more greenhouse gasses than simple mechanical recycling and reuse.

Unlike when they initially began the Indiana facility, Powell added, the company won’t sell any of its as fuels for combustion — they will be simply remaking them into new products.

“Unequivocally, no incineration, no fuels produced,” Powell said, adding that having experience from the facility in Indiana will also help them consider environmental impacts here in Georgia. “Things like what is our impact on water quality in a community where we are — so what we’re bringing to Thomaston is zero-liquid discharge.”

Zero liquid discharge, Powell explained, would allow Brightmark to fully reuse any water used in the facility and not send it to any wastewater treatment.

Powell said he understands skepticism around emerging technologies because he’s seen it before. Namely, one that’s being championed for the clean energy transition nowadays — solar.

“People used to ask those exact same questions — can it really work at scale, is it too expensive — legitimate questions,” Powell said.

Now that the Indiana plant has been running operations, he feels like there is a case study example to instill more confidence into the process — and has already invited some Thomaston community leaders to tour the plant.

While the solution may not be perfect, Powell is confident it moves the needle in the right direction.

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” Powell said.

While the facility in Macon didn’t work out, Powell said so far, the community has been more open to the development in Thomaston — and Brightmark will do whatever it takes to earn that trust.

“We’re passionate about Georgia; it’s my home state, and we want to be in communities that want us there and make sure that we are great community partners,” Powell said.