Plastic is becoming a major problem worldwide: In 2012, the United States alone produced roughly 32 million tons of plastic waste, while recycling only about 9 percent of its plastic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

This is because of the growing use of “nonrecycled” plastics, primarily made of polystyrene and polypropylene. Seeing little return value, recyclers toss these plastics into landfills, where they pile up and never decompose. As a result, landfill space is becoming a concern.

But now MIT spinout PK Clean aims to end the landfilling of plastic with a cost-effective system that breaks down nonrecycled plastics into oil, while reusing some of the gas it produces to operate.

“Plastic comes from oil to begin with, so it makes sense, instead of landfilling plastic, to convert it back to usable fuel,” says MIT Sloan graduate and PK Clean founder Priyanka Bakaya. “The goal is to end landfilled plastic waste forever—not just domestically, but also globally.”

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