ACC’s Plastics Division announces 2023 leadership team

The Washington-based American Chemistry Council’s (ACC’s) Plastics Division has announced its 2023 Operating Committee (PDOC) leadership team for 2023, which will serve from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023:

• Chair Dave Andrew, ExxonMobil Product Solutions;
• Vice Chair Palmer Giddings, LyondellBasell;
• Immediate Past Chair Christine Bryant, Covestro;
• Membership & Finance Committee Chair Jay Bickett, Chevron Phillips Chemical; and
• Value Chain Committee Chair Eric Hartz, Nexus Circular.

The ACC’s Plastics Division says it will remain focused on helping its members scale up and accelerate a circular economy for plastics.

“America’s plastic makers are doubling down on investments to capture and remake used plastic into new plastics, and our advocacy will remain focused on creating the policy environment needed to fight climate change, increase sustainability and build a more sustainable future through the benefits of plastics,” says Joshua Baca, ACC vice president of plastics.

Recent examples include promoting Congressional enactment of Five Actions for Sustainable Change and seeing five additional states pass laws to classify advanced recycling as manufacturing, bringing the total number of states to 20, the ACC says.

“As demand for recycled plastic continues to grow, we must work together to modernize the recycling system so that more plastic materials can be collected, sorted and recycled through mechanical and advanced recycling technologies, especially materials such as films and wraps that aren’t easily recycled today,” says Andrew. “This will require improving access to recycling programs in all communities, progressive and efficient policy and investment in new technologies such as advanced recycling. I look forward to guiding ACC’s Plastics Division’s advocacy priorities to help usher in a new era of improved circularity and even more sustainable innovation for the industry.”