A few dozen Howard County residents protested Friday afternoon outside the headquarters of W.R. Grace & Co. in Columbia in response to the chemical company looking to build a pilot plastics recycling plant close to their homes.
They worry about the air quality and byproducts of recycling plastic, known as forever chemicals, finding their way into the water supply. When ingested, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, can lead to cancer, thyroid issues, miscarriages and low birth rates.
Stop the Grace Plastic Burning Project, a grassroots group formed in response to Grace’s air permit application to the Maryland Department of the Environment, organized the event. The group and residents — roughly 50 of them — gathered at the entrance of the Cedar Creek neighborhood. Some backyards in this Columbia neighborhood border Grace’s headquarters.
“Your presence here today is a testament to the community that we are here to send a clear message that W.R. Grace’s proposed pilot plant has absolutely no place in this neighborhood,” said AmiCietta Clarke, who has a rare autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and osteoporosis.
“I have been symptom- and medication-free for over 13 years,” Clarke said Friday. “I will not let Grace erase the progress that I’ve made in my health journey.”
After a few speakers, county residents walked from the Cedar Creek entrance down Grace Drive and positioned themselves across from the entrance to W.R. Grace’s headquarters.
In a statement Thursday evening, a Grace spokesperson said: “False claims are circulating about the pilot project and our intentions. Let us be clear: we are not burning plastic; we are not manufacturing microplastics or producing PFAS or ‘forever chemicals.’ Moreover, Grace does not manufacture plastics at all. Assertions that we are doing any of these things are false and misinformed.”
The company has said it is pioneering new efforts to reduce the amount of plastic waste by recycling it into “plastic precursors.” If successful, according to the company, the process will be better for air emissions and will keep more plastics out of oceans and landfills.
Grace has a long history of environmental violations and financial troubles.
Grace wants to have the pilot recycling plant at its Columbia headquarters because the research scientists are at that campus, as well as most of the company’s research and development teams. The pilot plant, according to a spokesperson, would be built inside an existing building and be “a little bigger than a one-car garage.”
If built, the pilot plant would also be close to Robinson Overlook, a mixed-income housing development and a mile from Robinson Nature Center, a haven for wildlife and plants native to the Middle Patuxent River.
Grace submitted an air permit application to the Maryland Department of the Environment last September. The proposal’s public comment period ended last week after being extended. Stop the Grace Plastic Burning Project members pleaded with the environment department to extend the comment period further, until Oct. 29, but the department opted not to.
The Department of the Environment closed the public comment period on Aug. 29. The department is now reviewing and considering all of the comments before making a final decision on Grace’s air permit application.
“There is no prescribed timeline for making a final determination,” Jay Apperson, a department spokesperson said in a statement.
When MDE reaches its decision, a response to the public comments will also be released, Apperson said.
“We appreciate the work MDE is doing to evaluate the air permit application on its scientific merits, as this solution has the potential to help solve an important problem,” the Grace spokesperson said. “Our application includes science and evidence demonstrating the safety and exciting potential benefits of this project.”
Members of Stop the Grace Plastic Burning Project want the environment department to reject Grace’s application.
“What a disgrace! W.R. Grace!” the group chanted, before shouting, “No place for Grace!”
This story has been updated to correct the identity of one of the speakers. AmiCietta Clarke addressed the protest Friday about her health and the potential impact of the plant.
