Dive Brief:

• Researchers in India have created a process using low-temperatures to transform plastic waste into liquid fuel. The process uses plastic bags and other products to make the fuel.
• Plastic bags are made using petrochemicals. The composition of the bags allows them to function as an oil substitute.
• This discovery not only helps reduce the volume of bags deposited at landfills, but also serves as a possible solution to lower the global demand for oil.  

Dive Insight:

Although many countries recycle plastic waste, polyethylene bags are usually still hauled to landfills. Many cities have proposed, and, in some cases, implemented, plastic bag bans as a way to combat the massive waste created by these bags entering landfills, or even worse, the environment. If this fuel conversion process takes off, however, those very bags may become valuable materials.