Eastman Selected by U.S. Department of Energy To Receive up to $375 Million Investment for Its Second U.S. Molecular Recycling Project

Longview, Texas, named as the location of the facility

Eastman

KINGSPORT, TN / ACCESSWIRE / March 27, 2024 / Eastman (NYSE:EMN) announced significant progress towards its leadership in the circular economy.

• Selected by the Department of Energy as one of 33 companies for award negotiations to support Eastman's second U.S. molecular recycling facility
• Named Longview, Texas, as the location for its facility
• Finalized incentives with the State of Texas to assist with project funding

Eastman's second U.S. molecular recycling project has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin award negotiations for up to $375 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). The DOE announcement led to Eastman announcing the intent to build a second U.S. molecular recycling facility at its location in Longview, Texas.

Investment in the Longview site

The company selected the Longview site due to synergies with existing infrastructure and operations, favorable energy supply and footprint, and access to western and central U.S. feedstock pools. The location also provides enough space for onsite renewable energy. The investment includes operations that will prepare mixed plastic waste for processing, Eastman's next-generation molecular recycling unit to depolymerize waste, and a polymer facility to create virgin-quality materials for packaging and textiles. The Longview molecular recycling facility will have the capacity to recycle approximately 110,000 metric tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.

The investment is expected to bring over 200 full-time, high-paying jobs to the Longview community in addition to approximately 1,000 temporary construction jobs during site development and building of the facility. Eastman has operated in the Longview community for over 70 years and currently has over 1,500 team members at the location.

"We are excited to build our second U.S. world-scale molecular recycling facility at our existing site in Texas," said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. "The plant will remove significant waste from the region, enable true circularity and set a new benchmark for decarbonization. We have decades of history successfully operating in Longview, and this will be a great investment for the local community."