sheasphotos' Flicr photostream/Creative Commons

The first industrial-scale, commercially viable oil generator that can recycle plastic into fuel has been successfully demonstrated in Deerwood, Maryland recently.  The prospect of converting 10,000 tons of any type of plastic a year into a valuable fuel and keeping the waste out of landfills is exciting, however, the generator still relies upon and perpetuates the production of petroleum-based plastics, which require enormous amounts of fuel and generate high levels of pollution.

I don’t mean to be a spoilsport, as I think the generator is a great temporary solution to the 50 million tons of plastic waste created by the United States alone every year, but I would ultimately like us ween ourselves from our dependency on fossil fuels.  If you’re curious how the generator performs this astounding feet, here you go:

The reactor, a vital component of the unit, utilizes a heating system that converts plastic into oil through low temperature thermal cracking in a vacuum. Using this innovative approach, the Envion Oil Generator produces oil and power safely, efficiently, and economically through an environmentally sensitive process that produces a net gain in energy recaptured.

I’m glad to hear that the process is environmentally sensitive, as I could see this being a messy process.  A huge benefit of the Environ Oil Generator is that it costs much less to process the plastic into fuel than it does to simply dump the plastic into a landfill as we’ve done for decades ($17 per ton vs. $70 to $200 per ton), which will hopefully make it very appealing.  The generators cost about $7 million to build, so I won’t be ordering one up anytime soon, but that price is pretty reasonable I suspect considering you could turn quite a profit with the enormous amount of plastic available and the ongoing demand for fuel.

Use the action link below to find out where you can recycle your plastic until they build a Environ Oil Generator near you.