Canada's plastics industry has published important new research about the potential value of waste plastic.
At the moment, any plastic not recycled goes to landfill - which is both costly and negative for the environment. Now their new research shows that Canada's waste plastics could instead:
• Produce 9mbd of oil equivalent hydrocarbons (worth $792m today) via the use of currently available pyrolysis technologies. This is enough to run 600 cars each year
• Alternatively, it could be separated from other wastes and burnt as fuel in power stations. This would supply electricity to 500k households each year
The research is a good example of the benefits of 'doing more with less', as one of the study's authors, Prof Murray E Haight notes:
"Plastics, being hydrocarbons, have energy values substantially higher than coal and almost as high as natural gas and oil"
Anyone looking for a new business opportunity in Canada, or elsewhere, may have just found what they need.