Science Can Now Turn Plastic Bags Into Fuel!

Scientists have figured out how to turn polyethylene into diesel fuel! How did they do this and what does it mean for the future of plastic?


Read More:

Fish Now Think Plastic Is Food
"Tiny bits of plastic are so prevalent in oceans and other bodies of water that fish now see them as food, reports a new study. Ingesting the particles can lead to odd-behaving mutant fish that often die young."

Efficient and selective degradation of polyethylenes into liquid fuels and waxes under mild conditions
"Polyethylene (PE) is the largest-volume synthetic polymer, and its chemical inertness makes its degradation by low-energy processes a challenging problem. We report a tandem catalytic cross alkane metathesis method for highly efficient degradation of polyethylenes under mild conditions."

Global Plastic Production Rises, Recycling Lags
"Worldwide plastic production has been growing as the durable, primarily petroleum-based material gradually replaces materials like glass and metal. Today, an average person living in Western Europe or North America consumes 100 kilograms of plastic each year, mostly in the form of packaging."

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Written By: Trace Dominguez

[ParadoxBoxx]

we always hear about these amazing innovations only to never hear about it again.

[Phoenix]

"Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value."  -R. Buckminster Fuller

[RandyLy]

I'm hoping that landfills will eventually be the next energy gold mine. I see it as a little nest egg that just needs time before it can become a practical energy source.
Landfills contain all kinds of plastics which we can eventually convert (if this technology is true), has general materials that we can just incinerate, and can generate methane gas. We just need to be aware and responsible for air pollution and possible climate change effects as a consequence if we were to tap into landfills.

[stormyskyz]

When I see someone throw away something that is clearly recyclable I die a little inside

[Master_Therion]

This is great news! This means that next time my neighbor catches me shoving plastic bags into the gas tank of his noisy diesel truck I can just show him this video.

[MahoganyRaven]

if only America wanted to create those jobs lol.

[Puddingfuzz]

This catalyst must be a philosopher's stone.

[rahul]

In South India 1 man produce that technique . But on filtering and refining side it's not that oke .

[frozeneternity]

I started picking out the recyclables from the general trash bins in the office. Now people know to bring it to one of my recycling bins by my desk :)

[Flipodahippo]

There already doing this in Philippines. They're turning plastic bags into gasoline, kerosene and diesel.

[Christian-Rankin]

If you guys edited in the numbers onscreen so that we could see and hear them to better absorb the information, it would be worth giving the up the vaguely related stock images you show instead. Thank you.

[neildegrassetyson]

when your on a boat when a friend and he trows a empty bag of chips in the makes me so mad..

[chriswatson]

It's when someone says I don't recycle and then refuses to use the general rubbish bin. Or the people who get in the way of recycling, energy saving ect.

[danilochacon]

Thanks for making us think twice regarding trowing plastic trash, hoping that such invention can be shared to all for better future.

[dulceg]

It makes me die a little every time I see people throw away recyclable materials. I don't have a recycling bin, my town has these giant recycling areas where you can put plastic cardboard and glass into them. I try my hardest to recycle everything I can

[BigBadBossu]

My family has recycled everything plastic, metal and glass.... I have been doing it since I was 5 and now I go so far as to cut out the plastic lips from cardboard drink containers xD

It does indeed kill me inside when someone, especially someone visiting my home throws recyclables away.

[dantheman]

Up next: Thunderf00t continues to destroy everybody's optimism.

[AnimeShinigami]

@DNews the rental agency that manages my apartment building for some stupid reason has private garbage disposal. and because not enough of their tenants were interested, we don't get recycling pickup.

We do however have our recycling sorted out, and when the weather on the town's pickup date is good (right now everything's covered in snow and making a terrible mess) we bring it out and put it with the neighbor's recycling.

[magus]

i throw so much recyclable stuff into the trash its insane. Town refuses to collect where i live. Ive tried saving up cardboard and stuff for when i know i will be going somewhere that i can recycle it all but its pretty lame having bags of trash laying around so ive resorted to just tossing it all which makes me feel crappy

[Robert-yscp]

What I dislike is that where we live, trash companies don't want you to put some recyclable in with zero sort recyclables like vegetable cans and any plastic in bag form.