Milk cartons, Styrofoam cups,
grocery store bags -
a new plant in Indiana wants them all.
Brightmark's facility
is the first of its kind in the US.
It converts plastic waste into wax
and eco-friendly fuels on a commercial scale.
We take a whole array of mixed waste
like the ones you see behind me here,
that until now was not easily recyclable and reusable,
and create circular economy solutions
to some of our biggest environmental issues.
In its initial year,
the plant will process close to 100,000 tons of plastic -
which is about the weight of 600 blue whales -
from waste management companies,
manufacturers and environmental groups.
The full conversion process is a company secret,
but it begins with breaking bales of plastic apart ...
I handle all the solid product that comes in,
and we sort it, put it onto the line.
... then shredding the plastic into small pellets.
We've got employees that are basically refinery operators.
So they take the plastic pellet
and they convert that into our finished products.
Finished products include
ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel,
and companies like BP are already placing orders.
The BPs of the world, who've been very forward-thinking
and are looking to a net carbon-zero future,
find our products to be really helpful.
And it's much better than pulling crude oil
out of the ground to make diesel.
Critics of plastic-to-fuel technology
say these types of plants can release harmful emissions
of their own, when plastic is heated during conversion,
not to mention diesel's own contribution to air pollution.
But Brightmark argues that its method
is still better than what's happening now.
Studies show that if the global plastic industry
continues as it is,
then by 2050, there will be more plastic waste
in the ocean than fish.
- We need to change this,
and it all starts right here in Ashley,
so that by 2050, we can look back and say
we changed the course of this issue we had with plastics.
Similar companies are already operating
in Europe and Asia.
Before now, access to materials,
the price of equivalent fuels,
and operational costs have stopped them
from reaching their potential in the US.
Brightmark has appeared to solve this equation.
Demand for its solutions is high,
and the company plans to build more plants
across the country.
We've had literally almost thousands
of communities say,
"We would like for you to help solve the plastic problem
in our community."
For employees, the mission here is clear.
Brightmark is not just a job.
It's thinking of the future.
And in the future,
the ideal would be to have no more work to do at all.
The day that we ran out of plastics
to put into our facilities would be a great day,
because it means we've changed
the waste problem in the world.