BIG STORY: As local governments ban plastics, state encourages plastics

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent  | State officials this week praised South Carolina’s developing role in moving plastic material from point A to point B.  Meanwhile as local governments are trying to curb plastic waste, now they’re dealing with another real problem: environmental contamination by a spill of millions of tiny plastic pellets.

“Just one word … plastics,” Dustin Hoffman’s character was told in 1968’s The Graduate.   “There’s a great future in plastics.” Now, 51 years later, South Carolina is caught in a war between more plastics and less.

S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt this week said he was “excited” by an Oct. 8 announcement for thousands of additional pounds of plastic material to come through the Port of Charleston.  State Ports Authority CEO Jim Newsome called plastic transportation “a significant part” of the port’s growth strategy.

But downstream from the port’s headquarters on the Cooper River, Sullivan’s Island Mayor Pat O’Neil said he’s worried.  The town’s single-use plastic ban appeared to curb litter. Then in July, a spill of plastic pellets from Frontier Logistics at the port traveled to its beaches. Despite cleanup efforts, pellets remain in the sand, the mayor said.  Now, he said, he’s cautiously eyeing A&R Logistics’ announcement that it would export 132,000 tons of the pre-production plastic pellets, also known as nurdles. 

“Industry is important (and) economic growth is important but we need to be selective and prudent in the types of industries we encourage,” O’Neil said. 

Eighteen local governments have passed plastic bag bans, but there are few protections in place in the state from pre-production plastic. Frontier Logistics was found in violation of the state’s Pollution Control Act, although the act does not include any reference to plastic. According to a July 26 letter to the company, monetary penalties would follow should Frontier not attend remediation meetings with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

“Here we are doing everything we can to keep plastic out of the environment, and here are those nurdles,” said S.C. Sen. Sandy Senn, R-Charleston. She has pushed for the state legislature to vote against proposed statewide legislation that would prevent local governments from passing single-use plastic bans, which comes up perennially in Columbia. Senate Bill 394 may be one of the first items taken up in the 2020 legislative session. 

Responsible transportation of plastic pellets is a “high priority” among environmental advocacy groups, according to Coastal Conservation League Land, Water and Wildlife Program Director Emily Cedzo.

“It’s a burgeoning business for South Carolina right now. The onus is on us to find the solutions,” she said. “Who are we responsible to? The public and environment or the plastics industry?”

But beyond whether the state should address single-use plastics bans for bags or straws or sporks, the legislature currently does not have any other plastic legislation on its agenda for the 2019-2020 session. 

And in the meantime, the S.C. Department of Commerce and the S.C. State Ports Authority are working with plastic and logistics companies to locate or expand their presence in the state. 

‘Relatively new’ market

For years, the State Ports Authority has encouraged for more plastic transporters like A&R and Frontier.

“This market is relatively new for SCPA,” SCPA CEO Jim Newsome said in a statement to Statehouse Report. In 2017, the port saw 79,000 tons of pellets exported. In 2018, that amount grew by nearly three times: 226,000 tons of pellets. 

“SCPA looks to grow retail cargo and synthetic resin cargo, among other business segments, in an effort to grow above market,” he said. 

A&R Logistics will ship 12,000 containers (each containing roughly 11 tons of pellets) in its first year of operations in Berkeley County, where 60 jobs will be created in addition to a $60 million investment, according to Newsome. 

In 2018, Frontier announced a $35.5 million investment and an additional 34 jobs created. 

A&R Logistics and Frontier Logistics did not respond to requests for comments for this story. Neither company is currently receiving nor is slated to receive state-funded incentives offered through the Commerce Department, according to public records. 

More state incentives

Just as the ports authority has sought more plastic exports, the state Commerce Department also has worked with companies in plastic industries at least 41 times since 2009. According to public records of a dozen federal industry classifications — including plastic material and resin manufacturing and plastic packaging — the state Commerce Department has awarded counties $850,000 of help with incentives and offered job development credits to support relocations or expansions for 16 companies. More than 1,200 jobs and $461,700,000 in investments were tied to those receiving state-level incentives.

The list, provided to Statehouse Report following a request through the state’s Freedom of Information Act, lacked transporting companies since they are not federally classified as plastic companies . 

When asked what environmental considerations the port makes when recruiting industry, Newsome released this statement:

“The handling of plastics for export is a significant part of SCPA’s export growth strategy, with the understanding that it is handled by reputable companies with sound procedures.”

The S.C. Commerce Department also released a statement about environmental considerations: 

“The Department of Commerce … does not recommend any project for approval to the Coordinating Council unless the county in which the project proposes to locate is in full support of the company and the proposed project.”

Policy considerations

When asked what the port can do to assure no further pellet spills, Newsome responded that the state’s environmental agency, DHEC, “serves an important role” for regulating industry in the state and that the port assisted in Frontier’s operational adjustments and  improvements to its temporary site where the spill occurred. 

• In major plastic-producing Texas, several pellet spills were reported in the last year. A lawsuit is seeking $184 million in penalties from Formosa Plastics for violating the Clean Water Act and its Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit. 

Senn said she doesn’t want additional state regulations, and echoed Newsome on the importance of plastic pellets to the state.

“I doubt anyone is going to tell (transporters) not to come because it’s one of the few things we get a leg up on China … They buy those plastic pellets from us,” Senn said. She added, “But (the companies have) got to be more responsible.”

The problem of plastic pellets is not new. In 1993, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a report that offered recommendations to avoid environmental contamination. The Clinton-era report focused mostly on industry standards, not governmental regulation. One of the recommendations was for better packaging that is less prone to puncturing in transport. 

Senn said that is what she would like to see done in the wake of Frontier’s spill.  

California is one of the few states that has a law addressing pre-production plastic materials. Operated through the state’s water board, any company that manufactures, transports or warehouses plastic pellets will have state regulation and inspections. 

S.C. Rep. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, is pushing for a statewide ban on single-use plastics in 2020.  He said “bold leadership” will be necessary to curb potential pre-production plastic pollution from industry. 

“People better know how to cross the T’s and dot the I’s because (pollution is) happening,” Gilliard said. “It’s gotten to the point now if we don’t do something then it’s going to be too late to do anything … It can’t be all about money you know.”

Sullivans Island’s O’Neil said the impossible nature of cleaning up a pellet spill makes him fear a repeat incident. 

“We need absolute assurances that those transfers (of pellets) will not permit the release into those waters,” he said. “There is no getting rid of them.”

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