OT: Plastic into oil

I hope this isnt a internet hoax:

http://motherboard.tv/2010/8/22/a-machine-that-turns-plastic-back-into-oil--2

old news.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12141-giant-microwave-turns-plastic-back-to-oil.html (2007)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14019033.300-technology-theres-oil-in-them-there-plastics.html (1993)

It's all well and good being able to turn plastic back into oil. Is it actually efficient though? How much energy must be put into breaking these plastics down, compared to the amount of energy that can be obtained from the product?

"One kilogram of plastic waste produces almost a liter of oil while using about 1 kilowatt of electricity."

but i dont know if that includes breaking the plastic down. damn it was the 1st i heard of it. thought this guy was onto something new. bummer.

while using about 1 kilowatt of electricity

Shouldn't that be measured in ampere?

no, it shouldn't

( thanks wikipedia )

"One kilogram of plastic waste produces almost a liter of oil while using about 1 kilowatt of electricity."

but i dont know if that includes breaking the plastic down. damn it was the 1st i heard of it. thought this guy was onto something new. bummer.

one kilowatt for how long? 1 minute? two years? one kilowatt means one thousand joules per second. that's the amount of energy used per second, but it's not telling you how many seconds.

to find out how efficient it is you need to know how much energy (in joules or calories) needs to be put in to 1kg of plastic waste, and how much energy you would be able to get out of the product (the oil)...

to make it worthwhile the machinery would really need to be wind, wave or solar powered. pointless using one non-renewable resource to convert another one back to something resembling its original state, when it should never have been used in the first place.

much better idea: stop using so much plastic. use and re-use glass. remember glass milk bottles? wash and re-use.simple idea, far less waste.

to make it worthwhile the machinery would really need to be wind, wave or solar powered. pointless using one non-renewable resource to convert another one back to something resembling its original state, when it should never have been used in the first place.

much better idea: stop using so much plastic. use and re-use glass. remember glass milk bottles? wash and re-use.simple idea, far less waste.

while I agree with this, it seems like this has the potential to be a less 'dirty' and destructive process of obtaining oil than say canadian tar sands. If we're on the down side of the peak oil bell curve (assuming you except that idea) then we can expect to obtain oil in very inefficient ways from now on anyway. but yes using less plastic is a better idea.

the mixed colours of birminghams glass recycling get put into roads cause they can't split the colours up. thats a good idea..

what happens when you mix green, brown and clear glass? surely you still end up with a usable product. its a bit lame to waste all that glass just because it's not going to be turned into something with an aesthetically pleasing colour.

If people werent so obsessed with trademarks and branding and stuff, product manufacturers could agree to use a standard glass bottle for each of their products. One for 250ml, one for 500ml, one for 1litre etc. The only variation would be the labels. Then there wouldn't be a f'king problem with re-using them.

If people werent so obsessed with trademarks and branding and stuff, product manufacturers could agree to use a standard glass bottle for each of their products. One for 250ml, one for 500ml, one for 1litre etc. The only variation would be the labels. Then there wouldn't be a f'king problem with re-using them.

we got that in sweden. 330ml bottles. works for water / soft drinks / beer

http://www.kronleins.se/backnet/upload/images/org_sodavatten.jpg

http://www.braattveta.nu/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/anderssons.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Trocadero.jpg/250px-Trocadero.jpg

That's really cool. Is there a deposit/return thing there? I know certain places in Netherlands and Belgium do it with beer bottles

Yeah it is. 5p ish per bottle, and £2 for a crate I think

Works really well. Def the cheapest way to buy soda / beer. Nice bottles too

As a kid I used to collect bottles / cans to scrape some money together. Best was summer nights when a ferry left, that meant loads of people drinking before in the harbour. You could sometimes get a tenner together in an hr, well good if you're 8

They still have glass milk bottles in my local shops. A milkman also goes down my street.

I think people like the plastic bottles, because the milk is much cheaper if you buy a big plastic bottle than a 1 pint glass bottle. Kind of the basis a supermarket works upon, making you buy bigger packets of stuff for cheaper prices.

much better idea: stop using so much plastic. use and re-use glass. remember glass milk bottles? wash and re-use.simple idea, far less waste.

As a kid I used to collect bottles / cans to scrape some money together. Best was summer nights when a ferry left, that meant loads of people drinking before in the harbour. You could sometimes get a tenner together in an hr, well good if you're 8

blimey that brings back memory s taking back my pop bottles to the local pup to get money back for them.. ah reminiscessssssssss

They still have glass milk bottles in my local shops. A milkman also goes down my street.

I think people like the plastic bottles, because the milk is much cheaper if you buy a big plastic bottle than a 1 pint glass bottle. Kind of the basis a supermarket works upon, making you buy bigger packets of stuff for cheaper prices.

So plastic milk bottles are more popular/widespread because they're cheaper. Simple as that?

Not sure about here, but I know in sweden sometimes supermarkets sell milk for less than they pay, just to get people in the store. It has become one of these items that people compare prices by. Cheap milk = cheap food, though it has nothing to do with facts

Over here I think the supermarkets generally pressure the dairies into selling their milk at a loss, or at best, at a tiny margin. Bullying cnuts the lot of them.

yup, we got that too. such a backwards market where the buyer sets the price