Methanol produced by Kalama plant is bad whether it’s burned or made into plastic

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The plastics industry wants us to believe there are viable ways to recycle most plastic waste.

The truth is, less than 1% of the tens of billions of plastic bags used in the U.S. each year are recycled, and the U.S. is now burning six times the amount of plastic it’s recycling. The rest ends up in our streams or in a landfill.

The incineration process releases cancer-causing pollutants, and eight out of 10 incinerators in the U.S. are in low-income communities.

Some of the roadside litter breaks down into small pieces. On average, 57 million small plastic pieces flow through Portland in the Willamette River every day. 



None of this was revealed in the Environmental Impact Statement for the Kalama methanol plant.

Whether the methanol produced at the Kalama plant is made into plastic, or is burned as a transportation fuel, it is bad either way.