America’s Chemical Companies: Building Toward a Cleaner, Safer Future

22 April 2022, US: Earth Day is always a time to reflect on where we as a country, as organizations and as individuals stand in our efforts to be good stewards of the environment and our planet.  

We in the chemical industry have been at the forefront of innovating to create new technologies and products that can help increase sustainability. That’s our history and we’re proud of it.  As we assess our efforts, we recognize that we can do even better.  

We are committed to the residents and workers in the communities where we do business — to operate cleanly and conserve natural resources to help build an even better future.  

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We’re focused on air, water, climate, and recycling — with product safety underpinning our efforts.

Air – When it comes to air quality, the chemical industry is testing, tracking, and working to improve air quality in the communities where we do business. For example, ACC has worked with Harris County, Texas, government officials and scientists to create and deploy an extensive state-of-the-art air monitoring system in Houston so that we can track and evaluate air quality. This effort includes significant investments to fund mobile and stationary air monitors, including in lower-income areas, some of which have never had access to air monitoring before.

Water – Chemical manufacturing is often water intensive. So, conserving and protecting drinking water must be a high priority.  Our members are developing products and technologies to reduce water use. We’re helping our members identify at-risk watersheds in the communities near their manufacturing facilities, aimed at developing Water Body Risk Assessments that help companies identify actions to address potential issues. And our companies are innovating to enable water conservation, sanitation, reuse, and transformation of contaminated water into clean drinking water.

Climate – The obligation to find solutions and address climate change are front and center for our members. We recognize the need to reduce GHG emissions in our own operations.  And we’re committed to developing and deploying clean manufacturing technologies and emissions-reduction solutions. In fact, the chemical industry reduced its GHG emissions by 10 percent between 2017 and 2020. And we’re holding ourselves accountable by publicly reporting progress on our efforts to reduce emissions.

Recycling – Some of our most exciting initiatives center on technologies to reuse, recycle and recover materials that have historically been discarded as waste. ACC members are taking steps to cut waste by using more recyclable materials in manufacturing. We committed to reusing, recycling, or recovering 100 percent of plastic packaging by 2040.  We are converting products that can’t be recycled back into their original feedstocks. We’re developing and deploying technologies to recover and reuse raw materials. And we’re working to keep plastics out of landfills and the environment by pursuing advanced recycling that can create new, high-quality plastics out of used plastics.

ACC member companies know that creating a cleaner, safer and more sustainable future is the right thing to do. We also recognize that it simply makes good business sense. We can be more competitive and more efficient as we cut waste and reduce environmental impact.  We’ll build trust with employees, consumers, and residents in the communities where we do business. And we won’t stop with the efforts we have underway.