Turning Unwanted Plastic Waste Into Fuel

Published in Detodo/La Optimista, Ibiza’s good news only newspaper.

In the Philippines, where there is a particularly pronounced problem of landfill sites teeming with non-biodegradable plastics, a solution was urgently required. Enter Jayme Navarro, founder of Poly-Green Technology and Resources. Jayme cunningly took to converting plastic waste into fuel through a process known as Pyrolysis: “Pyrolysis is a fairly simple process, it starts by drying plastics to be processed. They are then shredded into smaller pieces, and heated in a thermal chamber. The melted plastic is continually heated until it boils and produce vapours. The vapour is passed into cooling pipes and distilled into a liquid, which is chemically identical to regular fuel.”

A noted plus of converting plastic to fuel, is that said fuel - with its low sulphur content - burns cleaner. It also offers financial dividends: with the raw material available in such large quantities, Navarro estimates that the fuel will be 10-20 % cheaper thanks to its low production costs. Reporter for Reuters, Elly Park, said: “While plastic fuel technology isn’t anything new, Navarro believes that an industrial scale version of his technology can not only help drivers on the road, but help the country dig itself out of its trash problem.” This seemingly cost effective and environmentally-friendly method has already been approved for industrial use and is now being tested for use in vehicles.