Greener Pastures: P2O Plants Convert Farm Waste to Fuel
Don’t let those fields of green confuse you — most farming isn’t environmentally friendly. From animal waste to pesticides and fertilizers to plastic trash, farms take their toll on Mother Earth. But some companies are looking to help farms clean up — and green up — their act. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the total amount of plastics in municipal solid waste in the U.S. was almost 31 million tons, or 12.1 percent of total municipal solid waste generation in 2007. Farms are a major contributor. Farms use plastic barrels and silage bags, many of which end up in landfills. The greenhouse sector, while often considered a clean industry, uses plastic in the form of nursery pots, plastic trays and polyethylene film. Some growers are looking to biodegradable plastic alternatives, such as peat moss or coconut, bamboo, rice, straw or corn fibers. But none of the available alternatives completely solve the problem — some materials are visually unattractive, while others are prone to cracking or mold growth. And many come in plastic packaging. Farmers can do one of three things with their used plastic. They can reuse it, though most do not, due to health concerns. Farmers can also recycle some of their plastic, but collecting and transporting the plastic to a recycling center can prove problematic. And now, farmers can turn their agricultural waste plastic into fuel. JBI Inc., a global technology company trading on the OTC market with the stock symbol JBII, has developed a way to break down plastic molecules into an oil similar to diesel fuel. The process, called Plastic 2 Oil (P2O), extracts about a liter of oil for each kilogram of plastic processed, and each P2O facility will be able to process up to 20 tons of scrap plastic per day. Even better, a gas byproduct created by the P2O process provides all of the energy needed to convert plastics into oil, eliminating energy costs. JBI is looking for people with manufacturing and farming facilities not running at full capacity to convert into P2O factories. Americans allowing P2O factories to run on their property will receive enough extra fuel from the P2O process to run their household or any on-site business operations.