Episode 97 | Plastic Potential | Brightmark





We produce about 300 million tons of plastic globally. Half of that is considered "single use," (i.e. plastic bottles), and less than 10% of this plastic is recycled.

Bob Powell, Founder & CEO of Brightmark, plans to start recycling plastic before it reaches landfills or the world's oceans. A new facility in Indiana will process about 100K tons per year, and produce up to 18 million gallons of low-sulfur diesel, naphtha, and wax.

Their process, using pyrolysis, has two major advantages:

  1. Plastic can be continuously processed, no "batch" treatments
  2. All plastics, Types 1-7, can be co-mingled

"We can take all the single streams in a co-mingled way, just as you would in your garbage, and turn them into usable products," says Bob. He also adds the process treats plastics at a lower temperature, which don't "cook" these materials, and can lead to more efficient energy use.

BP will be taking the diesel produced at this facility. Bob says there is no shortage of plastic supply, since they are located near Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis.

While Bob would not say what the "break even" cost of the fuel produced is, he maintains it would still be cost-competitive when fuel prices are low. The main benefit, he says, is that the carbon footprint is 14% less than "business-as-usual" diesel production. He cites a study from Argonne National Lab.

“We don't extract plastics from the ground," he says. "We take plastics that have been thrown away. There’s a tremendous carbon footprint savings even when parts of our products are burned or combusted."

I asked him about the growing concern about plastics in the ocean. He believes Brightmark could play a role with a facility near the coast. He also believes plastic could be eventually "mined" from old landfills.

"I think it starts with if someone like Brightmark can help pay people to bring the plastics in, you set the incentives the right way," he says.

In addition to the plastics facility, Brightmark also operates renewable natural gas operations, primarily focused on animal waste. Who knows, perhaps one day the natural gas from these operations could fuel the plastics-recycling facilities?

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