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Published on March 21, 2008

Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said yesterday that she had set two guidelines to support a project to convert plastic waste into oil - support of R&D and pilot projects. According to the plan, the Energy Conservation Fund will provide loans worth Bt105 million, from which each project will receive funding not exceeding Bt35 million.

The second support mechanism is the price. The ministry will use money from the Oil Fund to subsidise oil made of plastic waste and agree to provide investors Bt7 per litre for waste-based oil production for five years.

The amount of waste in Thailand is estimated to be 40,000 tonnes per day and after treatment 30 per cent of the plastic waste still remains. She said that according to research, oil made of plastic waste could offer properties almost similar to crude oil.

She added that Thailand has yet to seriously undertake the process of converting plastic waste into energy but only conducted research in the area, unlike other countries.

"This will be an incentive for those who create projects and it will reduce the risks for them in investing in the projects. Those who need this kind of support must have a production capacity of 3,500 litres of oil per day and their oil must have the same properties as Dubai crude oil," she said.

The Energy Policy and Planning Office will open for applications for financial support to produce oil from plastic waste next month. It will also invite state agencies and non-profit organisations as well as educational institutions to take part in the project.

Energy Reporters

The Nation