Are used plastics poised to become the new black gold? The American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division recently announced the launch of a new group whose members are developing commercial scale technologies for converting non-recycled used plastics into crude oil and other petroleum based products (read full press release). The new Plastics-to-Oil Technologies Alliance is working […]
Archive: February, 2014
Such great heights: Chemical industry investment surpasses $100 billion
The United States continues to reign as the place to manufacture chemicals now, as potential U.S. chemical industry investment has now topped $100 billion. As of this month, the number of publicly-announced chemical and plastics projects stands at 148, with the tally continuing to grow (ACC’s first report analyzed 97 projects valued at $71.7 billion […]
2012 WHO/UNEP report “State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals” doesn’t meet the mark
When the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) published its 2012 “State of the Science on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals” report in February 2013, ACC noted, based on our initial read of the report (see ACC’s press release here), that best practices of systematic evidence-based review were not used by the […]
Authors ignore fundamental principles of science in Lancet paper, opt for alarmism
In 2006, two researchers, Philippe Grandjean and Philip Landrigan, conducted a review of existing studies and posited that certain industrial chemicals could contribute to neurobehavioral effects. It appears that they have updated their 2006 work and are recirculating it under the title “Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity,” which was published yesterday in the journal The […]
Case study: Milliken polypropylene products deliver on efficiency and design
Energy efficiency is on the rise in America, thanks to recent legislative initiatives (see H.R. 2126 and S. 1000) and the emergence of public and private partnerships (see the Better Buildings Challenge) that can help Americans reduce our collective energy footprint. And of the hundreds if not thousands of energy-saving tools at our disposal today, […]
U.S. EIA: America’s plastics makers triple exports on half the energy
Data released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms what U.S. plastics manufacturers have been seeing firsthand of late – solid growth in plastics production and exports, combined with improved efficiencies, which allow their businesses to draw less energy from our nation’s abundant natural gas supply. The graph above tells the story. The […]
Faulty science comments can quickly spin out of control
Just in the past few days we have seen an exquisite example of how inaccurate, unfounded, faulty scientific statements can quickly cause unwarranted public alarm. A professor in West Virginia made unsupported public statements that he ‘guaranteed’ some residents in the state were breathing in formaldehyde gas at unsafe levels as they were enjoying their […]
