Proposed Incentives for New Recycled Plastic Technology

On September 17, Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) introduced The Plastics Recycling Act of 2009 (H.R. 3592) , which would allow tax credits for the production of oil from recycled plastic wastes. Producers would receive a 60 cent tax credit for every gallon of synthetic oil made from recycled plastic. Most plastic today is made from petroleum, but increasingly plastic is being made from renewable bio-based sources. The proposed tax credit would apply to synthetic oil made from any type of plastic.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that in 2007, Americans disposed of about 31 million tons of plastics in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream. As a proportion of total MSW, plastics have increased from one percent in 1960 to more than 12 percent in 2007. Less than seven percent of plastics were recycled in 2007.

New technologies are coming on line to convert used plastics to fuel. The Washington Post reports Envion , a Washington, D.C.-based company, recently opened a pilot plant in Derwood, MD, to demonstrate one conversion process. The plant uses infrared energy to convert plastics into synthetic oil. Chairman and chief executive of Envion, Michael Han, estimates a commercial scale plant will be able to convert 10,000 tons of plastic per year into about 60,000 barrels of synthetic oil, which can then be refined into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, or kerosene, at a cost of about $10 per barrel. Envion says the waste ash from the process is non-hazardous.