Erie’s International Recycling Group recently secured a conditional loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to bring cutting-edge recycling technology currently used in Japan and Europe to the United States.
This is great news for my community and the region. I support the development of the IRG project. I spoke with DOE representatives last year to express the same. Right now, less than 10% of plastics are recycled in the United States, while in Europe and Japan the plastics recycling figure is over 40%.
‘Groundbreaking opportunity’
IRG’s technology offers a way to utilize the half of waste plastic that is hard to recycle to decarbonize steel production; replacing coal and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The steel industry accounts for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, much of it in our region. In my view, this is a groundbreaking opportunity to turn what was once waste into a source of cleaner energy, reducing the environmental impact on one of our most essential industries in the region.