A controversial chemical recycling process will remain under more protective air regulations — a reversal from the first Trump administration’s attempts to weaken standards in line with industry pleas.
EPA on Tuesday posted its final rule outlining changes to the performance standards for what are technically known as “other solid waste incinerators,” a category covering about 60 trash-burning operations used by prisons, nursing homes and other facilities.
But the agency “will not be taking additional action related to pyrolysis/combustion units in this action,” leaving pyrolysis as a “municipal waste combustion unit” under the Clean Air Act.
It’s a change of course from President Donald Trump’s first term, which in 2020 proposed to remove pyrolysis from its emission guidelines for incineration and recategorize it under the less-protective manufacturing standards — a change chemicals and plastics groups have pushed for. The Biden administration withdrew Trump’s proposal in 2023.
