Scientist turning plastic into fuel...

Richard Gross is onto something. A chemistry professor at Brooklyn's Polytechnic University, Gross has recently developed a "fuel latent plastic," which can be turned into diesel fuel after its been used for it's packaging purposes. Plant oils are already in use in the making of biodiesel, and Gross thought to use the material to first create plastic, which with the help of a naturally occuring enzyme(cutinase) and warm water can then convert the plastic into fuel.
This development could be big for the military. A soldier produces an average of more than 7 pounds of packaging waste a day, which, according to the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency requires special transportation, especially for far away bases. This special plastic would cut transportation needs in half and save substantially amounts of fuel money. Although the process still requires further research, the Pentagon threw in $2.34 million to spur on development.
The process itself takes 3-5 days. The plastic is shredded (a paper shredder would do the trick) and placed in water with a bit of the enzyme. A few days later, the fuel surfaces on top of the water. Gross says that the amount of biodiesel produced by a gallon of soy oil remains the same, regardless of whether it is first made into plastic form or not.

The pentagon refers to the initiative as Mobile Integrated Sustainable Energy Recovery program (MISER), and aims to recapture 90% of packaging energy to convert to electricity.

Depending on the future of oil prices in the US, and if the government decides to tax carbon emissions, this technology could gain economical dependence. Furthermore, the plant base of the plastic/fuel means that it leaves a much smaller carbon fooprint on the atmosphere-- the carbon that is released will be absorbed by subsequent crops that are grown to make the plastic.