Trifol and Error - Village Magazine

54 October-November 2024

Trifol and Error

Exposing

the ﬂaws in

Ireland’s new

‘Sustainable’

Fuel

By Lyndsey O’Connell

from non-renewable sources.

A critical analysis would have considered

the full environmental impact of pyrolysis,

including the carbon footprint of the energy

used in the process. Without this

information, the article presents a one-

sided view that misleads its readers. The

truth is that Trifol Resources is maintaining

the carbon cycle that fuels global warming.

Turning plastic waste into proﬁtable

products, such as food packaging,

cosmetics, candles and tyres, introduces

not only signiﬁcant environmental but also

health risks. According to ChemTrust UK,

thousands of chemicals used in food

contact materials (FCMs) can potentially

migrate into our food and drink, with many

associated with harmful health impacts and

environmental pollution.

By promoting the use of such products,

companies like Trifol Resources not only

contribute to the ongoing plastic crisis but

also expose us to potential health risks.

The continued business-as-usual model,

that focusses on economic gains without

considering the long-term environmental

impacts reﬂects a broader trend in which

short-term proﬁts are prioritised over long-

term ecological health. A more balanced

approach would consider both economic

and environmental outcomes, questioning

whether the economic beneﬁts are worth

the potential environmental and health

costs.

No matter how complex, journalists must

balance these costs, recognising the

limitations of technology and using the

terms green and sustainable only sparingly.

Simpliﬁed solutions can be misleading, and

it’s vital that we remain vigilant to

greenwash.

The focus on proﬁt over safety and real

sustainability highlights the dangers of

commodifying waste rather than addressing

its root causes.

Now, to figure out how to explain all this

to my neighbour next week over the

hedge.

Lyndsey O’Connell is Communications Lead

at Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment

(VOICE)

ike many others, I found myself

chatting with my neighbour over

the hedge this weekend. We

talked about the usual topics —

the weather and our disappointing

summer — but then he mentioned an RTÉ

article he thought I’d ﬁnd interesting.

Knowing my line of work, he assumed I’d be

thrilled to learn about a company in

Tipperary that has supposedly solved both

the plastic and aviation-fuel problems in

one ingenious move.

Curious about this miraculous invention,

I quickly looked up the article, found it, and

many similarly written articles. They

focused on an apparently groundbreaking

idea developed by Trifol Resources, an Irish

company, which uses a technology process

called pyrolysis to convert plastic waste

into a ‘sustainable’ fuel.

This process is in fact nothing new.

Pyrolysis has been around for a while and

is heavily debated. It is a problematic form

of chemical recovery that turns plastic

waste into a mix of carbon molecules, which

are used as feedstock for petrochemical

production. In short, it’s taking a material

made of oil (plastics) and turning it back

into fuel, so that it can be burned, releasing

carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.

Needless to say, and despite what the fuzzy

warm articles might tell you, this is not a

form of recycling and is not a part of any true

circular economy.

According to the EU’s Waste Framework

Directive, using chemicals and heat to

change the structure of plastic polymers to

make fuel (pyrolysis) is a regressive step in

the plastic value chain. Because this

process goes so far back in the production

of plastics, it needs to be linked more to a

petrochemical site than a recycling facility.

The RTÉ article repeatedly used the term

“sustainable” to describe the so-called

‘sustainable aviation fuel’, that is made

from this chemical and energy intensive

process.

True sustainability should focus on

reducing plastic production, increasing the

use of reusable packaging, and moving

towards truly renewable energy sources.

Pyrolysis, by contrast, simply adds an extra

carbon emitting step to the reﬁning of oil to

fuel, with you and me (and our plastic bread

wrapper) as the intermediary between the

oil reﬁnery and the engine.

Chemical recovery and chemical recycling

are not only, as the names suggest,

chemically intensive but also require

substantial energy input to maintain the

high temperatures necessary for plastic

decomposition. This energy often comes

POLITICS

VillageOctNov24.indb 54 03/10/2024 14:27