City hall press release
Mayor Turner applauds energy leaders for innovative recycling center
Mayor Turner speaks on the Cyclyx Circularity Center at the Houston City Council on Wednesday 10/19.
October 19, 2022 — Mayor Turner applauds Cyclyx, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell announcement of an investment of 100 million dollars at a facility that promises to sort and process plastics that would otherwise be dumped in landfills.
The City of Houston worked closely with its partners in the Houston Recycling Collaboration to realize this ambitious project. The collaboration’s mission is to help Houston dramatically increase plastic recycling rates, leveraging new technologies and infrastructure, such as this Cyclyx facility, to recycle nearly all plastics. The collaboration includes the City of Houston, ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, Cyclyx and FCC Environmental Services.
Dubbed the Cyclyx Circularity Center, the first plastic waste sorting and processing facility will be located in the Greater Houston area, with commercial start-up expected in 2024. The center will leverage new technologies to analyze plastics based on their composition and sort them according to customer specifications for their highest and best reuse, including plastics that could not be recycled by traditional mechanical methods.
“In Houston, we recognize the power of a circular recycling economy for resilience and sustainability,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “The Cyclyx Circularity Center will be the model for the future of plastics recycling, and I’m thrilled that these companies with global footprints have chosen to come to Houston for energy innovation. I express my deepest gratitude to Cyclyx, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell for their commitment not only to Houstonians, but to creating a greener future.
The facility will be designed to produce 150,000 metric tons or 330 million pounds of plastic feedstock per year, supplying ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell’s advanced recycling projects as well as mechanical recycling markets.
“The Circularity Center will change the game of plastics recycling,” said Mark Wilfalk, director of Houston Solid Waste. “Combined with the Houston Recycling Collaboration, the Cyclyx Circularity Center will provide new opportunities for our efforts to remove trash from our bayous, and neighborhoods and reduce the impact of plastic waste on our environment.