The veto allows trash burning facilities and a new wave of plastic-to-fuel projects to remain eligible for state funding and keeps them as part of the state’s clean energy and climate programs.
COLORADO – Today, Governor Polis vetoed a bill that would have provided needed restrictions on incinerators and so-called “chemical recycling” facilities. The rejected bill would have prohibited state funding and subsidies for waste incinerators and chemical recycling projects. The bill also would have clarified that facilities that burning waste to create heat or electricity aren’t considered “renewable” or “green” under Colorado’s climate and clean energy programs.
“This veto is a huge disappointment,” said Peter Blair, Policy and Advocacy Director at Just Zero. “If Colorado truly wants to address climate change and plastic pollution, it needs to move forward with real solutions that don’t include burning trash and investing in myth’s created by the fossil fuel industry.”
In response to growing public backlash on plastic pollution, the fossil fuel and plastic industries are aggressively pursuing “chemical recycling.” They argue that chemical recycling technologies can break down plastic into basic components, which are then used to manufacture new plastic products. However, the truth is much more complicated.
“Chemical recycling isn’t the solution that the fossil fuel and plastic lobbyists make it out to be,” said Blair. “It is public relations for plastic – a new lie to keep us hooked on the polluting cycle of making and burning single-use plastics. These facilities are expensive, toxic, unreliable, and don’t actually result in any real recycling. The people of Colorado deserve laws that will protect them from these dangerous facilities, and that make sure their money isn’t used to subsidize facilities that will only destroy the environment and harm our health.”
Most chemical recycling facilities rely on generous public subsidies to get off the ground. Despite receiving millions in public funding from federal, state, and local governments, these facilities have failed to hit production targets or meaningfully recycle any plastics. Governor Polis’ veto means these facilities will remain eligible for state funding.
The veto also leaves the status of so-called chemical recycling in Colorado up in the air. The bill would have regulated chemical recycling facilities as incinerators under Colorado’s waste management laws. This would have protected the state from a nation-wide lobbying campaign to pass legislation that defines chemical recycling facilities as "manufacturing" plants. Industry’s end goal with this campaign is to make chemical recycling cheaper, easier, and less transparent – all while evading necessary state environmental regulations. Currently, 25 states have these industry backed deregulation laws.
Just Zero is a national environmental advocacy organization that works to implement just and equitable solutions to climate-damaging and toxic waste disposal practices.
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