Mayor's Office Press Release

Mayor Turner speaks on the Cyclyx Circularity Center at Houston City Council on Wednesday, 10/19.

October 19, 2022 -- Mayor Turner applauds Cyclyx, ExxonMobil, and LyondellBasell's announcement of a $100 million investment in a facility that promises to sort and process plastics that would otherwise be discarded in landfills.

The City of Houston has worked closely with its partners in the Houston Recycling Collaboration to realize this ambitious project. The Collaboration's mission is to help Houston significantly increase plastic recycling rates, leveraging new technologies and infrastructure, such as this Cyclyx facility, to recycle nearly all plastics. The Collaboration includes the City of Houston, ExxonMobil, LyondellBasell, Cyclyx, and FCC Environmental Services.

Dubbed the Cyclyx Circularity Center, the first-of-its-kind plastic waste sorting and processing facility will be located in the Greater Houston area, with commercial start-up expected in 2024. The center will leverage new technologies to analyze plastics based on their composition and sort them according to customer specifications for their highest and best reuse, including plastics that were not able to be recycled using traditional, mechanical methods.

“In Houston, we recognize the power that a circular recycling economy holds when it comes to resilience and sustainability,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “The Cyclyx Circularity Center will be the model for future plastics recycling, and I am excited that these companies with global footprints have chosen to call Houston home for energy innovation. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Cyclyx, ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell for their commitment not only to Houstonians, but to creating a greener future.”

The facility will be designed to produce 150,000 metric tons or 330 million pounds of plastic feedstock per year, supplying ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell advanced recycling projects as well as mechanical recycling markets.

"The circularity center will change the game of plastics recycling,” said Mark Wilfalk, Director of Houston Solid Waste. “Combined with the Houston Recycling Collaboration, the Cyclyx Circularity Center will bring new opportunities to our efforts to remove waste from our bayous, streets, and neighborhoods and reduce the impact of plastic waste on our environment.”