An interest in zero garbage led Thane residents Melwyn Fernandes and Vikal Chourasiyar to inventing machines that can make fuel and gas from plastic and other household waste.
Fernandes, 47, a mechanical engineer and construction equipment manufacturer says,” I know that plastic is made from petroleum products. So why not try to reverse the process? so that plastic is used to derive petroleum/green fuel”
After two years of extensive research he duo has come up with a machine which makes fuel from plastic.
The machine uses plastic items found in household garbage like plastic bags, broken pieces, etc., which cannot be recycled to make fuel which has a component similar to diesel.
The machine has a capacity of converting 5 kg plastic into bio-fuel daily and costs Rs 1 lakh. It can be used by housing societies to process their plastic waste. This diesel can be used to oil machines, as fuel in generator, even burn funeral pyres. They are also working on making bio-gas using wet waste and the results will be out soon.
Thane city generates over 700 metric tonnes of garbage daily. There are over 700 big housing societies and complexes in Thane and dumping garbage is a big issue in the city, This waste can be used as a raw material by this machine to produce green fuel.