Plastics Plants Production Capacity Inventory
Plastics production has surged across the United States in recent decades. Along with this growth has come increased pollution from plastics plants – this was discussed in detail in the Environmental Integrity Project’s ‘Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex’ report. The report reviewed 50 existing plastics plants in the United States and estimated that they cumulatively emitted 63 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2021 alone. The report also identified plans to construct 10 new plants that make plastics or their chemical ingredients over the next five years, as well as at least 17 expansion projects at existing plants. These expansion and new construction projects could add 35.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, along with a significant amount of other health-damaging air pollutants.
Unfortunately, even amidst this push for increased production it can be difficult to find reliable information on plastics plants’ production capacities. This information is often kept private by manufacturing companies, stuck behind trade publication paywalls, or is otherwise difficult to find. To help fill this information gap, the Environmental Integrity Project and Material Research developed an inventory of production capacities for plastics plants across the United States.
This inventory includes 124 existing plastics plants that manufacture key polymer resins – polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene. The inventory also includes plants that manufacture the main chemical ingredients for polymer resins (chlorine, ethylene, benzene, etc.), plants that manufacture catalysts used in plastics production, and proposed expansions and new facilities. A wide range of data sources were used to compile facility production capacities: permit documents, EPA documents, trade publications, company websites, and other public sources.
Each facility included in the inventory is plotted as a point on the map below. Click on a facility to see its production capacity, ownership information, whether it has plans to expand, and links to the facility’s profile on the EPA’s ECHO database, the FencelineData database, and Oil and Gas Watch.
Plastics Plants Inventory Map
Plastics Plants Inventory Table
More detailed facility information is available in the searchable table below. The table is also available for download as a spreadsheet, which contains details on the methodology used to create this inventory and information on plastic resins and their chemical components.
If you have questions about this inventory, please contact Alexandra Shaykevich (ashaykevich@environmentalintegrity.org) or Jim Vallette (jimvallette@materialresearch.org).
