An American company in Niagara Falls, New York, uses a machine called the ‘Giant Plastic Eater’ to recycle plastics into fuel.
“Only seven percent of plastic waste in America is recycled every year,” a statement from the American Environmental Agency (EPA) said. A new company in northern New York said it could increase that percentage. It was also said to be able to help America reduce the amount of oil imports.
The company has a machine they call a “plastic-eating giant.” Every hour, thousands of kilograms of milk and water vessels and plastic shopping bags are put into the machine. The plastic waste comes from landfills throughout America. John Bordnyniuk operates a company called JBI.
He said, basically, they were mining their garbage heap and sending it here.
Bordynuik created a new process that could help humans by turning plastic into fuel. He explained that various types of unwashed plastic are melted into one.
The result, Bordyniuk said, would be like milk. Almost the same as if we heat milk on the stove. Exactly like that, the difference is black.
Bordyniuk uses special chemicals to convert the plastic liquid into steam. It turns plastic into its most basic element.
He explained, “Plastic is just a long chain of hydrocarbons. What we are doing is reshaping the plastics into chains that we want to have high fuel values.”
Eight percent of recycled plastic is used to run the system. Independent testers said 86 percent of the plastic that was entered was turned into fuel.
Bob Molodynia helped manage the company. He watched as the plastic eater machine poured the runny brown liquid into a barrel of oil.
“We can use this oil right now, and this oil is ready to be used. That is fuel number six, which is widely used by companies such as American Steel, many large companies, they are spending large amounts on getting there, to the oil,” he said.
JBI produces thousands of liters of fuel per day. The company makes several types of oil for different industries. JBI sells the fuel up to 100 dollars per barrel. The cost of producing each barrel of oil is around 10 dollars.
John Bordyniuk believes plastic will be an important source of fuel for America. He said that would reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and reduce the amount of plastic waste.
According to scientists, the technology of turning plastic into oil is still new and developing. They admitted they did not yet know whether the process was environmentally friendly. “Can turning plastic into oil even be considered recycled?” Such questions are also widely discussed.
Carson Maxted works for Resource Recycling, a magazine that reports on the plastic recycling industry. He said, because there was a lot of plastic waste and a large demand for oil, JBI recycling technology could create major changes in both sectors.
So, Maxted said they benefited from something that was supposed to go in the Final Waste Recycling Site, items that would not be accepted into the recycler.