N.S. firm has plan for trucks to run on plastic

Diesel-powered trucks could soon be running on energy obtained from your discarded soda bottles.

According to a news story in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, a newly created Nova Scotia firm plans to team up with a Montreal company to build a $15 million plastics-to-fuel plant that they say will be the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

Nova ReNew Inc., established in Halifax last year, has just reached an agreement with Montreal’s Global Clean Energy, Inc. to develop and finance a plant that will convert plastics to fuel using pyrolysis technology.

The plant will be able to convert 6,000 tonnes annually of industrial and curbside plastics – items recycled by the general population – into high-value fuel, the Chronicle Herald story said.

Global Clean Energy will provide financing through their mezzanine, equity and bond funds, as well as select technology that will yield a high return. Nova ReNew will oversee the operations and maintenance for the plant, which will be located in Nova Scotia, although an exact location has not yet been determined.

The project could create as many as 12 to 15 direct jobs, and 40 jobs in total.

Once operational, Nova ReNew plans to hire several trucking companies to collect plastic waste and transport it back to the plant to be processed.

The company has identified at least five potential customers.