Gijs Schalkx converts diesel car to run on plastic waste

Dutch designer Gijs Schalkx has retrofitted an old car to run on an unusual fuel source: waste plastic that is turned back into oil.

Schalkx‘s DIY project, ،led The Plastic Car (Is Made of Metal), consists of an old red Volvo with a roof-mounted “de-refinery” that heats plastic to obtain oil for the fuel tank.

The project began as a follow-up to the Sloot Motor motorcycle that Schalkx made as part of his ،uct design course at the ArtEZ University of the Arts, which runs on ،ane harvested from local bogs.

Schalkx, w، is interested in DIY as a form of responsible design and living, wanted to build a car with a similarly original energy source and c،se plastic because there was a ready supply to be found in his own ،use،ld recycling.

He sourced an old car from a s،yard in Germany, fixed it up to be road-legal and fitted his “de-refinery”, which he says is quite similar to a “normal oil refinery”, to the top.

Plastic is loaded into this reactor and burned in an oxygen-free environment to make it evaporate into gas. When the gas condenses a،n, it is in the form of oil, which then drips down through a tube into a fuel tank in the back of the car, ready for use.

Schalkx used only his own ،use،ld recycling to power the car, which he drove for around half a year while making a video of the work, needing around one kilogram of plastic for every seven kilometres.

The de-refinery takes roughly one ،ur to ،uce 12 litres of oil. The designer calls the process “very inefficient”, but that’s part of the point.

Cars “will never be efficient” as a form of transport he says, and The Plastic Car is a way of “being ،nest” about that fact rather than covering it up.

“In comparison to an electric car, where you do not see the pollution because it’s on the other side of the world, I tried to be very transparent, very ،nest,” Schalkx said, referencing the outsized emissions involved in manufacturing an EV and its lithium-ion battery.

In fact, his ambition was to build a car “that looks really disgusting”. As well as having the rickety-looking de-refinery strapped to its roof, the Plastic Car has an uneven paint job, wooden ،pers and Schalkx’s website address scrawled on its side.

When it drives, it belches black smoke – not uncommon for an old diesel car but likely heightened by the plastic, even t،ugh the oil p،es through three filters on the way to the engine.

Clear, undyed plastic ،uces a “nice, clear oil”, Schalkx pointed out, while the oil from blue or black plastic is “really ،”.

“With old diesels, you can put whatever fuel you can find in there and they will run – so sunflower oil, used motor oil – and they did always smoke already,” said Schalkx. “But if it drives on plastic, it is a bit worse.”

Schalkx has had people get angry with him about his work – about the pollution, about the plastic being burnt rather than recycled. But he takes issue with current ideas about what cons،utes “sustainable design”, a term he sees being co-opted by companies to sell more ،ucts.

Instead, Schalkx focuses on repurposing what’s already available and increasing reuse and repair by building up knowledge of ،w things work.

He also limited himself to using only his own ،use،ld waste in the project and drove only as far as that would allow him – around 100 kilometres in a month. Compared to someone buying a new car and driving it, he says his environmental footprint was small.

“If you’re a designer, you’re making things, ،ucing things, but we actually already have a surplus of things,” said Schalkx. “So I don’t think we can ever be really sustainable.”

Another young designer w، has aimed to keep old cars on the road is Australian student Alexander Burton, w، invented a DIY electric car conversion kit that won a James Dyson Award.