Firm reveals plans to turn waste plastics into green fuel

The UK-based company is partnering Australian technology company Ozmotech on the venture, which it believes could see capacity to reprocess 100,000 tonnes of plastic a year.

“A lot of people are collecting plastic in the UK, but there is nowhere for it to go.
We aim to offer somewhere for it to go.” – Michael Murray, Cynar plc

The technology involved – called “ThermoFuel” – was originated in Japan, where there are nine operational plants. The system involves heating waste plastic in the absence of oxygen to produce a diesel-like fuel.

Fuel

Cynar claims its system can ultimately generate up to 1.4Mwh of electrical power from every 10 tonnes of waste plastic. The company has said that any plastic – including farm, domestic or commercial – can be put through the system and turned into a fuel.

Cynar has signed a £15 million contract with Ozmotech to provide at seven plants in the UK and Ireland, which will be built in Australia and shipped to the UK and Ireland. The first plant is scheduled to be opened in April of next year.

Michael Murray, chairman and founder of Cynar, said: “We have four possible sites set up in the midlands of Ireland and a facility will be in place there by April next year. From there we will look to put a total of 15 sites in the UK and Ireland by 2010.”

Mr Murray said that each plant has a capacity to process about 6,800 tonnes of plastic each year, and the company believes each plant can produce 6 million litres of fuel annually.

Farm plastics

Cynar will look to secure contracts with individual organisations to provide feedstock for each of the plants. In Ireland, the company has plans to collect about 15,000 tonnes of farm plastics each year, working with the Irish Farm Films Producers Group Ltd.

In the UK, Cynar has already begun planning for sites in Scotland, the South East of England and the Midlands. Plans have been finalised for a plant in Peterhead, Scotland. Mr Murray said that by the end of 2006 around four plants would be in the building process, as well as the first Irish plant which would be up and running.

Mr Murray said: “A lot of people are collecting plastic in the UK, but there is nowhere for it to go. We aim to offer somewhere for it to go, we are telling waste management companies and local authorities, if you can guarantee us feedstock we will provide a plant.”