Fueling Your Car With Plastic Bags

Even though some cities have banned the use of plastic bags, they are far from extinction. These bags are finding their way into our oceans, landfills, and as trash in our yard. However, one inventor has created an effective solution.

According to Clean Technica, Akinori Ito, a Japanese inventor, has created an invention that can transform plastic bags back into their crude oil form. From there, the oil can be used to fuel a variety of things or refined for use as gasoline.

His invention is actually a non-polluting, fully contained process that heats up the plastic, traps the vapors and channels them through an intricate system of pipes and water chambers. These, in turn, cool the vapors and condense them back into crude oil.

The carbon-negative system — now offered by Ito’s Blest Corporation, founded in early 2010 — is a highly-efficient technology, converting 1 kilogram (about 2 lbs.) of plastic into 1 liter (about a quart) of oil using just 1 kilowatt of power (cost: about .20 cents). However, the current cost of this system is just under 10,000 USD. Ito hopes to bring this price down through ramping up the production process as the word gets out and demand increases.

Photo by Kate Ter Haar

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