For almost 2 decades, plastic usage has grown with each passing year; as such, plastic waste has also grown substantially during that period. Over the last 10-15 years, the calls to increase recycling rates of plastic have also grown, but virtually nothing has happened. There is a confluence of events now taking place that will drive change, but the most important question to address is not “why” this will happen, but “how” it will occur. While manufacturing and shipping of goods is performed in a somewhat centralized manner, waste production is a highly decentralized, or distributed, process. To address this end-of-life challenge with plastic wastes, the need to manage established and highly localized systems and processes mandates that solutions will require a bespoke approach, with only a fraction of so-called “best practices” being utilized across the country and globe. In this context, PDO believes that a successful strategy is comprised of three key elements: 1. Understanding the concept of the “Lowest Level of Economic Aggregation”; 2. Offering a scalable technology that “can be placed where the problem resides”, and 3. Developing Offtake (product) markets and partners that can be utilized to provide the best financial return to the solution provider. Lastly, global remediation in developing nations will require strict adherence to the KISS principle in terms of technological approach. More to the point, human resources, and not automation, will help small and large communities alike to begin to invest in themselves and their community in working towards waste management and ultimately waste utilization. The final question to consider is this: What does it mean for a technology or business to be “sustainable”?
Bio – Kevin DeWhitt is the founder of PDO Technologies Inc. (“PDO”), a company dedicated to keeping plastic waste out of the natural environment. For the past 9+ years, PDO Technologies has advanced its plastic-to-fuel technology, making it economically efficient, carbon neutral and operable in the most remote corners of the world. Partnering with mechanical recyclers and local communities, PDO creates micro-circular economies processing difficult or impossible-to-recycle plastic waste.
Prior to founding PDO, Kevin founded Agilyx, (originally, Plas2Fuel), a so-called “first of its kind”, plastic-to-synthetic-crude oil technology company. Agilyx raised more than $100 million from green-tech angel investors, venture capitalists and strategic partners, becoming the leader in chemical recycling. Mr. DeWhitt led the technical development efforts in his role as Chief Technology Officer, and these efforts resulted in commercialization of the technology in 2012 at three project locations in the USA. Mr. DeWhitt has been granted one international and eight national (US) patents related to the technology.