ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling unit in Baytown is barely a year old, and the company is already planning for another one. The second unit is part of the plan to have more than 1 billion pounds of plastic waste processing capacity globally by 2027. The extra output will help meet rising demand for certified-circular plastics from companies working to reach their sustainability goals.

“This is a big step forward in adding capacity,” said Ray Mastroleo, ExxonMobil’s market development manager for advanced recycling. The unit is expected to start up in 2025.

The first unit, which started up in December 2022, is one of the largest of its kind in North America. As of March 2024, it had processed more than 45 million pounds (22,000 metric tons) of discarded plastic.

As we’ve ramped up the unit, we’ve evaluated what’s working and what to do better. Those lessons will be applied to future advanced recycling facilities around the world.

“The interest from our customers for certified-circular plastics is far outpacing our ability to supply them, so we’ve almost doubled the amount of plastic we can process through reliability improvements,” Mastroleo said.

“Industry supply is critical to support customers’ sustainability pledges,” Mastroleo said. “And advanced recycling is being seen as a scalable, real solution that helps support circularity more broadly.”