Environmental Groups Applaud Cancellation of Controversial Erie, Pennsylvania, Plastic Waste Facility that Would Grind Waste Plastic Into Smaller Plastic Pieces to Be Burned at Steel Mills in Indiana
For Immediate Release: April 4, 2025
Contacts:
Melissa Valliant, Beyond Plastics — melissavalliant@bennington.edu, (410) 829-0726
Jess Conard, Beyond Plastics – jessconard@bennington.edu, (614) 905-7254
Residents of Erie, Pennsylvania; Gary, Indiana; and environmental organizations are applauding the April 3 announcement from International Recycling Group (IRG) that it is canceling its proposed plastic waste facility. The facility would have operated in Erie, Pennsylvania, collecting plastic waste from a 750-mile radius and turning it into smaller pieces of plastic that would be burned in steel mills. With Erie and Gary already overburdened by pollution, residents of both cities were concerned about the damaging impacts of this false solution to plastic waste. The project is located next to a Boys & Girls Club and less than a mile from Lake Erie.
In addition to opposing the project itself, local residents and over 100 environmental groups have been persistently opposing a $182.6 million conditional loan guarantee from the federal government to IRG, using climate funds from the Inflation Reduction Act.
"Benedictines for Peace has been concerned about the plastic pollution generated by IRG and believes this is a win for Lake Erie. We hope Erie will join the fast-growing labor force for truly renewable energy and create even more jobs than those promised by IRG." —Anne McCarthy, OSB, coordinator at Benedictines for Peace
"The cancellation of this project is a win for the environment and a win for the residents of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Taxpayer dollars should be used for real solutions to environmental issues, not a polluting project masquerading as a quick fix to the plastic waste crisis. Providing more plastic to be burned as fuel for steelmaking is not a climate or waste solution — it only creates more pollution. Beyond Plastics celebrates with these communities and will continue to stand by others fighting for the health and safety of their homes and families.” —Jess Conard, Beyond Plastics Appalachia director
"We in the environmental community have been pointing out that this is a major problem since the company showed up, right here in River City. Plastic recycling is not a thing. Now, can we focus our attention on making plastics manufacturers responsible for the pollution with which they are flooding our air, our waters, and our bodies?" —John Vanco of the Sierra Club Lake Erie Group
“Trucking plastics across the country to burn in blast furnaces under the guise of ‘recycling’ was and will always be a complete false solution and greenwashing attempt. No existing EPA data for toxic emissions standards from this dubious and unscientific process exists. This project would have exacerbated toxic emissions in Northwest Indiana, harming regional health and the environment and furthering the ‘sacrifice zone’ status. 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.” —Susan Thomas, director of policy and press at Just Transition Northwest Indiana
"Gary Advocates for Responsible Development joins with Erie, Pennsylvania, community members and state and national environmental organizations in celebrating the cancellation of the IRG proposal to process plastic waste in Erie and transport the so-called ‘CleanRed’ waste product to Gary, Indiana, to burn in a U.S. Steel GaryWorks blast furnace. 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." —Dorreen Carey, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development
"Clean Air Council welcomes this news. Fake ‘recycling’ is a false solution. The company that proposed this plant never had a plan to make it work, so it was doomed from the start. Communities in Erie and across Pennsylvania need actual economic solutions rooted in sound ecological practices. Our waste crisis has one solution: a halt to plastics production. And the people of Erie deserve jobs that can support their families without poisoning them." —Andrew Woomer, project manager at Clean Air Council
“The cancellation of IRG’s proposed operations in Erie is welcome news for families whose health would have suffered from air pollution created by burning plastic from this facility in steel mills. It will also prevent microplastics from getting into Lake Erie and into people's bodies, wreaking havoc on their health. It’s time to focus on real solutions and reduce the production of plastic.” —Rachel Meyer, Ohio River Valley field organizer at Moms Clean Air Force
About Beyond Plastics
Launched in 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution. Using deep policy and advocacy expertise, Beyond Plastics is building a well-informed, effective movement seeking to achieve the institutional, economic, and societal changes needed to save our planet and ourselves, from the negative health, climate, and environmental impacts for the production, usage, and disposal of plastics.
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