NWI environmental groups praise cancellation of plastic waste facility

Plans to create a plastic waste facility have been canceled, and Northwest Indiana activists are pleased by the decision.

Just Transition Northwest Indiana and Gary Advocates for Responsible Development were two organizations that praised an April 3 announcement from International Recycling Group that it’s canceling its proposed plastic waste facility.

International Recycling Group could not be reached for comment Monday.

The proposed facility would have operated in Erie, Pennsylvania, and collected plastic waste from a 750-mile radius and turned waste into smaller plastic pieces to be burned in steel mills, according to a news release from Beyond Plastics.

Activists believed U.S. Steel’s Gary Works facility would have been included in the project, but the company was not specifically named in the project.

In August, a spokesman for U.S. Steel told the Post-Tribune that any announcement of involvement would come from the company, but U.S. Steel never announced its involvement, according to the company’s website.

The steel company declined to comment on the project cancellation Monday.

“We are always seeking ways to improve the environment, increase our recycling efforts and reduce fossil fuel use,” said an August statement to the Post-Tribune. “Opportunities are reviewed and vetted by our operations and environmental teams based on the safety, environmental and operational merits of any individual project.”

Dorreen Carey, GARD president, said in a statement that she was pleased by the decision not to continue the project because of how it might impact Northwest Indiana.

“Burning plastic waste in the blast furnace would have emitted additional health harming toxic emissions to the already polluted air of Gary and surrounding Northwest Indiana communities,” Carey said.

In 2019, four of Indiana’s top 10 highest polluting industrial facilities were in Northwest Indiana, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Indiana led the nation in toxic pollution emitted per square mile.

Susan Thomas, director of policy and press for Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said in a statement that the project was a false solution and greenwashing attempt.

“This project would have exacerbated toxic emissions in Northwest Indiana, harming regional health and the environment and furthering the ‘sacrifice zone’ status,” Thomas said. “This is a stigma that industrial communities here are working mightily to counter. Just Transition Northwest Indiana is proud to be part of a unified multi-state, multi-organizational effort to stop this scheme and demand real solutions that uplift environmental justice.”

In August, 106 environmental and community groups submitted a letter to former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, asking her to withdraw a $182.6 million loan guarantee for the proposed plastic waste facility.

Funding for the grant came from climate funding provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, according to Beyond Plastics.

mwilkins@chicagotribune.com