Dive Brief:

• A report released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) finds that utilizing emerging technology that transforms used plastics into oil could lead to $9 billion or more in economic output for the U.S. economy every year. 
• The report, “Economic Impact of Plastics-to-Oil Facilities in the U.S.,” estimates the economic potential of Pyrolysis -- a technology being developed at a fever pitch.
• The U.S. is a prime launching pad for plastics-to-oil facilities, and has the capacity to implement 600 plants across the nation. This could provide $6.6 billion in capital investment.

Dive Insight:

Jon Angin, vice president of business development at Agilyx Corp and chairman of the ACC’s Plastics-to-Oil Technologies Alliance, said, “Plastics-to-Oil technologies have the potential to create thousands of jobs for skilled workers, contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, cut our carbon emissions, and dramatically reduce the landfilling of a valuable energy source.” 

In a separate study conducted at Columbia University’s Earth Engineering Center, researchers determined that transforming non-recycled plastics into oil could potentially produce up to 6 billion gallons of fuel. 

In August, Agilyx announced it was renovating a waste-to-oil plant with the installation of new technology at a Waste Management facility. The update is expected to be finished by the end of 2015. After completion, the plant could potentially handle 50 tons of plastic waste material per day, and 10,000 gallons of crude oil on a daily basis.