Changing plastic back into oil

[slonezp]

[SirSnookalot]

Being in the recycling industry I thought the video was fascinating. I have bought and sold many tons of plastic over the years and what amazed me was no separation of the different types of plastic materials. Just like metals plastic comes in a wide variety of different blends.  Also in this recycling application the plastic does not have to be clean it's garbage and as rule plastic must be free of dirt and foreign materials to be reground.

I'm in awe........this is important technology.

[slonezp]

If for nothing more than to get rid of the plastic. I've never been a tree hugger, never even recycled, and don't believe in global warming, but if this can be accomplished at low cost and low fuel consumption(unlike 2 gallons of fossil fuel to create 1 gallon ethanol) then it seems to me it there is no reason we shouldn't look into this, not to mention the bonus oil.

Sirsnookalot, since you're in the industry, What currently is involved, cost and otherwise, in taking garbage plastic and turning it into a recycled plastic that can be used in products. I have heard that many municipalities run in the red with recycling programs. I'd also imagine the cost/benefit ratio of recycling plastic or metals or paper would vary greatly.

[bilgerat]

That's fantastic. The potential is staggering.

You don't have to be a tree hugger to appreciate the benefits of this. Every single one of us on this forum has griped about the trash we see in our waters.

I've also heard many municipal recycling programs run in the red. From what I understand, it's the paper more than the plastic that causes this as the market isn't there for it. I could be wrong about that.

[SirSnookalot]

I'm retired now, I spent nearly 35 years in the business.  I first broke in working at a waste paper company.  There are different grades of paper and the same with iron & metals there is a wide range of scrap prices, they are commodities.  Whether it's paper, plastic, metals or precious metals recycling has been around for eons and is a multi billion dollar biz.  So much of what you use in your daily life has been manufactured from recyclables, most of the time it's more cost effective to recycle scrap than mine ore, but mining goes on as we need lots of raw materials, needless to say China is the biggest consumer of scrap over the last 10 years or so. 

I was amazed by this technology because in my dealings with plastic scrap every grade needed to be segregated and very clean, then reground back into pellets for injection molding.

Recycling is the right thing to do, many items to not biodegrade or take a long time in our landfills, some states are running out of landfill space and sell their garbage to other states. 

I don't want to get long winded but in countries where they do not actively practice recycling and have little or no conservation programs there is devastation, Amazon rain forest comes to mind.  Checking that out may persuade some get yellow and blue bins, it may just improve your own recreational fishing.