Rockville Plant Turns Plastic into Gasoline

Just when you thought the only exciting thing happening in Rockville was the new kosher Subway that opened up this summer, someone figures out how to turn Rockville’s plastic bottles into high-quality, synthetic oil.

Envion, Inc. introduced a “first of its kind” plastic-to-gas recycling unit at the Montgomery County Solid Waste Transfer Station yesterday. The unit can convert any type of plastic garbage into usable oil that costs less than $10 per barrel.

As you probably already know, plastic is made of petroleum. It contains large amounts of stored energy that is wasted in traditional disposal methods. The new Envion processor can convert a ton of plastic garbage into four 42-gallon barrels of fuel for gasoline, diesal, jet fuel and kerosene.

Currently, the United States produces 50 million tons of plastic garbage every year. Most of this goes into landfills, costing $70-200 per ton to process. Envion promises that each of its machines can eliminate 10,000 tons of plastic per year for only $17 per ton. This is cheaper than current recycling programs.

Now all you kids in Rockville have something be proud of.

Photo Credit: Flickr CC User lisabatty