- A dump truck and a crane truck have been traveling in a town near Nice for the past few weeks thanks in part to fuel created from recycled plastic waste.
- The machine, which is the second version, can recycle two types of plastic.
- The idea should ultimately make it possible to supply generators "in areas of the world where there is both plastic pollution and problems of access to energy".
In France, we have no oil but we have ideas we said in the 1970s. In Nice, we perpetuate the adage. A dump truck and a crane truck have been traveling in a town near the capital of the French Riviera for the past few weeks thanks in part to fuel created from recycled plastic waste, an initiative led by an association recently transformed into a public limited company to raise funds.
The machine created by Earthwake, called Chrysalis, can recycle two types of plastic (polyethylene and polypropylene), that of plastic caps or bottles of milk and that of reusable food containers. Crushed, heated to 450 ° C and then distilled, the plastic waste makes it possible to obtain "40 liters of fuel for 40 kg of waste", assures its creator Christofer Costes, whose initial objective was to refuel with garbage from his house.
The actor Samuel Le Bihan in the round table
"A world first", according to the department of Alpes-Maritimes, one of the supporters of this project launched by this young resident of Puget-Théniers and carried for five years by the association born from his meeting with the actor Samuel Le Bihan .
The machine, of which it is the second version, was installed in a workshop just outside Puget-Théniers. It feeds a fuel pump where the drivers come to get help at 5 am before their tour: 2,600 liters have been sold in almost two months.
The idea, recalled Samuel le Bihan, should ultimately make it possible to supply generators "in areas of the world where there is both plastic pollution and problems of access to energy".
In search of capital to develop
The project has obtained the support of key players: Citeo for the selective collection of packaging materials, SGS for analysis and certification and SBM Off shore, Dutch specialist in deep sea petroleum extraction.
"We have finished the associative cycle, that of research and development on the machine, and we are going to go to the industrial stage with the standardization of the machine", summarized Georges Fritsch, member of Earthwake. Since May 25, no truck has broken down. The rest will depend on the plan chosen by the company whose five members are seeking capital, without losing control of their project.
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