“Chemical Recycling” Company Watchlist Scan: September 29 – October 5, 2026

Run date: 2026-10-05 · Last watchlist run: 2026-09-29 · Deltas only. I read the coverage log (51 rows) and the 2026-10-04 sweep (2026-10-04 sweep) before reporting. Items already logged there are not repeated.

Labels: [COMPANY] means a company statement, press release or SEC filing, not independently confirmed. [AGENCY] means a permit or agency record. [NEWS] means press reporting. [COMPANY, via NEWS] means an executive’s statement as quoted by a reporter.

The week in one look

It was a quiet week for the watchlist companies. No press release, 8-K, or permit action from any of them turned up in the window. The one substantive new source is a long C&EN feature from 2026-09-30, “With recycling plants closing, is plastic pyrolysis worth saving?” It contains new on-record capacity and timing claims from ExxonMobil Baytown, Nexus Circular McDonough, and Alterra. All of these are company statements; none is confirmed by an agency record. C&EN also counts the Brightmark Ashley, Freepoint Hebron, and Braven Zebulon shutdowns as “half of the large plants operating in the country.” That is a useful framing line for partners.

New since 2026-09-29

ExxonMobil Baytown, TX: fourth pyrolysis unit “by year-end,” doubling capacity to 200,000 t/yr [COMPANY, via NEWS]

• C&EN, 2026-09-30 (Alexander Tullo), quoting circular products director Eloissa Wells. Since 2021 ExxonMobil “has started up three pyrolysis units at its Baytown, Texas, refining and petrochemical complex; it now has a total of 110,000 t of annual plastics-processing capacity. The company plans to complete a fourth unit by year-end, which will bring its capacity to 200,000 t per year.” ExxonMobil also “says it has processed about 70,000 t of waste since its first unit opened in 2022.”
• Independent context in the same piece: Lux Research says the first unit “ran at around 50% of capacity over its first 2 years.” A supplier, Triton Group, says Baytown buys “sorted, processed, regrind and repro,” not raw bales. So the feedstock-preparation chain upstream of Baytown (Lexicon Rule 1) runs through third-party processors.
• Why it matters: a fourth unit would nearly double the largest pyrolysis operation in the US within about three months. We have located no TCEQ permit record for it. TCEQ’s pending-NSR list can’t be dated (see the Channel Map note of 2026-10-04), so the next sweep should search TCEQ Permit Search for the Baytown complex directly. The unit may have been permitted as a modification under an existing flexible permit, which would mean no fresh notice.
• Source: https://cen.acs.org/business/consumer-products/recycling-plants-closing-exxonmobil-alterra-nexus/104/web/2026/09 · company page on the third unit: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/locations/united-states/baytown/newsroom/2026/baytown-becoming-one-of-the-largest-advanced-recycling-operations
• Facility file created: facilities/exxonmobil-baytown-tx.yaml. No existing file or EPA record in facilities/ matched Baytown or ExxonMobil. Earlier watchlists tracked Baytown without a file.

Nexus Circular, McDonough, GA: 12 lines, 192,000 t/yr, first two lines “by year-end” [COMPANY, via NEWS]

• C&EN, 2026-09-30, quoting chief commercial officer Clint Thompson: Nexus “is now installing 12 production lines with the improved technology at a facility in McDonough, Georgia, that will add 192,000 t per year of overall capacity. The first two lines will start up by year-end; four more will open in 2027.” Nexus has “supply contracts with LyondellBasell, Chevron Phillips, and Braskem for its first six new production lines in McDonough.” Thompson also claims “2.7 million–3.1 million t of usable waste plastic sit within a 240 km radius.”
• The 2026-10-04 sweep flagged this as “reported, not confirmed; the page could not be retrieved.” This run read the full article, so the item is now logged.
• Why it matters: McDonough would be about 12 times Nexus’s Atlanta plant (16,000 t/yr). The only permit we hold is GA EPD 2869-151-0065-S-01-0, with no term captured. A build-out this size probably needs a permit modification. No GA EPD application has been located. The 10-04 sweep reported permitsearch.gaepd.org as unreachable.
• Source: https://cen.acs.org/business/consumer-products/recycling-plants-closing-exxonmobil-alterra-nexus/104/web/2026/09
• Facility file updated: facilities/nexus-mcdonough-ga.yaml (stage changed from unknown to construction, on the company’s statement).

Alterra Energy: “still pursuing a second US plant”; licensing talks abroad [COMPANY, via NEWS]

• C&EN, 2026-09-30, quoting chief commercial officer Valerio Coppini: “Coppini says Alterra is still pursuing a second US plant.” No site or state is named. Alterra is “in negotiations to license technology for plants in Australia and Azerbaijan.” Its US licensee Abundia “wants to build a plastics pyrolysis plant in Baytown with 80,000 t per year of capacity.” C&EN also confirms that Freepoint “ultimately didn’t execute a license agreement” for the 192,000 t/yr Gulf Coast plant (Rule 5: follow the licensee).
• Why it matters: this is the first on-record restatement since Sugarloaf PA was withdrawn (Aug 2025) that Alterra wants a second US site. It’s a standing alert like Resynergi’s: any minor-source permit showing the Alterra air-toxics profile (Lexicon Rule 3) should be screened for an Alterra or licensee link.
• Source: same C&EN article.
• Facility file: none. This is corporate, with no site. alterra-akron-oh.yaml was not changed, because the article has nothing new about the Akron permit record.

Other new statements in the same C&EN piece (logged in the Alterra row; no facility changes)

• Braven Texarkana (cancelled): BASF, its former offtaker, “is pursuing alternative options for supplying our North American production sites with volumes of qualified pyrolysis oil.” [COMPANY, via NEWS] It’s worth watching which plant BASF turns to. Encina’s 2026-07 BASF collaboration (Gulf Coast) is one candidate.
• Freepoint Eloy: Dow, the exclusive phase-one offtaker, declined to discuss “specific commercial arrangements … delivery volumes or offtake agreements.” [COMPANY, via NEWS] This is not a change, but Dow is no longer publicly reaffirming the deal.
• Industry tally: C&EN says three US plants (Brightmark Ashley, Freepoint Hebron, Braven Zebulon) “have shut down, representing half of the large plants operating in the country,” and names ExxonMobil, Alterra, and Nexus as the remaining operators. [NEWS]

Checked, no new signal in window

• PureCycle (PCT): the only EDGAR filing since 09-25 is a Form 4 insider filing (2026-09-25). There are no 8-Ks or press releases. GuruFocus (10-02) reports 28% short interest; that’s market commentary, not a delta.
• Brightmark: Ashley IN plastics processing is still suspended (July 2026 IDEM response, restated by C&EN). There is still no final Thomaston GA air permit record.
• Encina: nothing after the 2026-07-02 BASF release. The Point Township litigation has nothing new since March.
• Resynergi: the relocation state is still undisclosed.
• Eastman: no news stories after June on the Eastman newsroom. Kingsport TDEC TND003376928 has no final (per the 10-04 sweep). Longview is still on hold.
• ExxonMobil Baytown: see above. No release from ExxonMobil itself in the window.
• Abundia (AGIG), Waste Energy Corp (last releases 09-17/21/25, already logged), Agilyx/Cyclyx (last item 09-16, a conference appearance), LyondellBasell MoReTec-2, New Hope, Freepoint, Reju, Clean Vision/Clean-Seas, Loop: no new item found after 09-29.
• Alterra RACT SIP hearing (09-30): no press coverage of the hearing found. Signal Akron and BEN Ohio show nothing new.
• American Chemistry Council / plasticmakers.org: no new advanced-recycling statement found. The plasticmakers news page returned 403.
• EDGAR full-text search, 09-29 to 10-05 (“pyrolysis,” “advanced recycling,” “chemical recycling,” “depolymerization,” “methanolysis”): the PowerLink 1-A/A is already logged (10-04 sweep). TotalEnergies 6-K (Grandpuits, France), Recon Technology 20-F (China), Tsukishima CB, and Estée Lauder DEF 14A are all out of scope for US facilities.

Method note

This run used web searches per watchlist company; fetches of the Eastman, Agilyx, Abundia, and PureCycle IR pages and the Stocktitan WAST feed; the EDGAR submissions API (PCT) and full-text search; and the full C&EN article. WebFetch returned 406 for C&EN, so it was read with curl. The Abundia press page listed nothing after January, and the PureCycle IR page returned no list, so a newer release on either could have been missed. No agency portals were enumerated; that is the sweep’s job, and the 10-04 sweep covered 22 jurisdictions. Earnings transcripts were not read, since no watchlist company reported in the window. The Channel Map was not edited, because this report does not maintain it.

Suggested follow-ups for the next sweep: TCEQ Permit Search for ExxonMobil Baytown fourth-unit authorization; GA EPD for a Nexus McDonough permit modification ahead of the year-end startup.