Exxon Mobil Plans to Expand Chemical Recycling Capacity

ExxonMobil plans to invest more than $200 million to expand its chemical recycling (also known as advanced recycling) operations at its sites in Baytown and Beaumont, Texas. According to the company, the new operations are expected to start up in 2026. The company plans to build additional units to reach a global recycling capacity of 1 billion pounds per year by 2027.

ExxonMobil announced planned expansion of recycling capacity in Baytown and Beaumont, Texas. Source: ExxonMobil.

“We are solutions providers, and this multimillion-dollar investment will enhance our ability to convert hard-to-recycle plastics into raw materials that produce valuable new products,” says Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Product Solutions. “At our Baytown site, we’ve proven advanced recycling works at scale, which gives us confidence in our ambition to provide the capacity to process more than 1 billion pounds of plastic per year around the world. We’re proud of this proprietary technology and the role it can play in helping establish a circular economy for plastics and reducing plastic waste.”

The investment will add 350 million pounds per year of chemical recycling capacity at Baytown and Beaumont, bringing ExxonMobil’s total capacity to 500 million pounds per year. The company is continuing to develop additional chemical recycling projects at manufacturing sites in North America, Europe and Asia, with the goal of reaching 1 billion pounds per year of recycling capacity globally by 2027.

ExxonMobil says it has customers for the products of its chemical recycling processes in more than 15 countries across multiple sectors, including food-safe packaging and pet food, and that the demand is increasing. Products can also be used to make fuels, lubricants and high-performance chemicals.

“The world’s plastic waste challenge will be solved with innovation, collaboration and supportive government policy to improve waste management and circularity,” McKee says.

The company’s first Baytown facility started up in 2022 and has processed over 70 million pounds of plastic waste as of October 2024.