Chemical recycler Braven Environmental will no longer pursue plans to open a pyrolysis facility in Texarkana, Texas.
Braven announced in 2025 that it would build a new facility in the TexAmericas industrial business park. The project, worth an estimated $145 million, received assistance under a tax abatement program touted by Gov. Greg Abbott through the state's Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation incentive program. Texarkana Gazette first reported the plan to pull out of the deal.
The company planned to turn what it described as “hard-to-recycle plastics” into PyChem, which it markets as an alternative fuel and a feedstock to create new plastic products.
Under the JETI program, Braven would have received a 10-year reduction in its property taxes of at least 50% in exchange for promising to create at least 10 new jobs in Bowie County, Texas, and investing a minimum of $20 million in the region.
Scott Norton, CEO of TexAmericas, told the Texarkana Gazette that Braven notified him of the contract termination at the end of March, close to the deadline when the company was to finalize the purchase of 74 acres of the industrial park.
It’s unclear what’s next for the company or for its current operations at its existing pyrolysis plant in Zebulon, North Carolina. The phone number listed on Braven’s website appears to be disconnected and the email address for media inquiries is no longer functioning.
In March 2025, Braven announced it had entered into a “long term” offtake agreement with BASF for its pyrolysis oil. BASF did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the status of that agreement.
It’s the second time Braven’s announced plans for a new facility have ended early. Braven had previously agreed to invest $31.7 million to build another manufacturing operation in Cumberland County, Virginia. That project, announced in 2020, fell through two years later.
Texas has attracted several chemical recycling projects over the years, in part due to business incentives and nearby petrochemical operations. These companies have touted their businesses as a way to recycle more kinds of hard-to-recycle plastics and potentially offer business opportunities for MRFs and other recyclers.
ExxonMobil, which operates some of the largest chemical recycling facilities in North America, announced in February that it opened its third chemical recycling operation in Baytown, Texas, with capacity to process up to 250 million pounds of plastic a year.
But environmental groups have long criticized chemical recycling operations, saying such facilities contribute to air and water pollution while overpromising on recycling claims that ultimately don’t pan out. Beyond Plastics has previously criticized Braven and other chemical recycling companies for marketing their materials as a sustainable feedstock for new plastics without transparent data on actual recycling yields.
