Beyond the Blue Bin: Advanced Recycling | Ross Eisenberg
Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
Dan Crenshaw
4.6 • 16K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What really happens to your plastic after it leaves the recycling bin? There’s a massive industry trying to turn that trash into something useful in the cleanest, most efficient way possible – and it’s one of the toughest economic puzzles of our time. Recycling expert Ross Eisenberg joins us to unpack the strange economics, the breakthrough chemistry, and the big misconceptions behind plastic waste and production.
Ross Eisenberg is the President of America’s Plastic Makers at the American Chemistry Council. Find him on X at @eisenberg_ross.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created. As a member of Congress, I get to have a lot of really interesting people in the office. Experts on what they're talking about. This is the podcast for insights into the issues. China, bioterrorism, Medicare for all, in-depth discussions. Breaking it down into simple terms. We hold. We hold these truths. We hold these truths with Dan Crenshaw. |
| 0:24.5 | Welcome back, folks, to hold these truths. Please give us five stars. So we're going to talk about |
| 0:28.3 | energy dominance today. We're going to talk about plastics. And more importantly, the recycling |
| 0:33.8 | and advanced recycling. So the term energy dominance, it's obviously a theme these days amongst |
| 0:39.2 | Republicans in Congress, and of course it is. You know, we've been tackling this issue from all sides, |
| 0:43.2 | whether it's grid reliability, permitting reform, and locking our vast energy sources like natural gas. |
| 0:48.8 | Today I want to talk about another critical angle in that energy space, and that's advanced recycling in plastics because we use them all the time. So you're familiar with all forms of recycling the blue bins from everyday life or the |
| 0:59.3 | or the multi-colored bins, depending on what part of the country you live in or like you're in |
| 1:03.5 | Germany and they want to sort everything. Either way, we're going beyond the blue bin today. |
| 1:08.6 | In Texas, we actually don't even have a blue bin. We have a slightly smaller bin where I live and there's a recycling thing on it. |
| 1:14.6 | Anyway, we just kept them all the same color. |
| 1:18.6 | Probably saves us on costs. |
| 1:20.6 | But let's talk about the technology behind this, the chemistry behind it. |
| 1:23.6 | Advanced recycling, different than normal recycling. |
| 1:26.6 | We'll explain why. It turns |
| 1:28.2 | plastic waste into valuable products. That meets consumer demand and draws in billions in private |
| 1:32.4 | investments. That's a win-win. So, you know, the truth is many, especially on the love, |
| 1:37.6 | I was called the radical environmentalist left, see, you know, because I like to just be careful |
| 1:42.8 | about who I'm talking to. And I want to say |
| 1:44.9 | everybody who's a Democrat, but there is a radical environmentalist movement. They see plastic |
| 1:49.0 | as a problem. Just the existence of it is a problem unto itself. I don't think we have a plastic |
| 1:54.2 | problem. I think we have a plastic waste problem. And advanced chemical recycling is a common |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dan Crenshaw, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dan Crenshaw and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.