PROVIDENCE – Rep. Michelle E. McGaw, D-Portsmouth, is calling on the General Assembly to advance her legislation aimed at prohibiting high-heat plastic-waste processing facilities in Rhode Island.
McGaw has been advocating for similar bills since 2022 in response to efforts to classify pyrolysis, a high-heat processing method for plastic waste, as manufacturing instead of waste management, thereby lowering pollution standards.
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In March, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a solicitation for public comment on a proposal to grant the plastics industry’s request to loosen regulations.
McGaw argues that the state must safeguard against the potential siting of these facilities within its borders. Her bill would ban the construction or operation of new plastic-waste conversion facilities statewide, making it easier for Rhode Island to meet its carbon reduction benchmarks under the Act on Climate.
“The federal government appears poised to give the plastics industry the lower air pollution standards it wants, so our state needs to move now to protect Rhode Islanders and our environment from the toxins that these plastic-waste systems spew into the atmosphere,” she said.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
