Photo by Paul O'Donnell.
One man’s trash is another man’s airplane fuel.
Adventure-seeker Andy Pag aims to obtain funding and become the first person to fly a trash-fueled plane from one end of the U.K. to the other. His aircraft, a microlight plane, will be powered by gasoline made from un-recyclable plastics like bags and packaging.
The fuel is made by a British company using Fischer–Tropsch synthesis–a process of making synthetic fuel that dates back to before WWII. Pag says the fuel is worth highlighting because it produces limited CO2, and reduces the volume of plastics that otherwise would go to landfills.
Pag isn’t just in it for sheer glory, either. He plans to stop every couple of hours, show off his sweet ride, and educate people about the need to cut back on fossil fuels.
Flying a microlight plane — plastic-based fuel or not — is certainly risky, but this isn’t Pag’s first foray into green travel. He’s previously traveled the world on donated vegetable oil, driven across the Sahara in a truck powered by chocolate, and organized a motor rally where vehicles run on restaurants’ waste oil. Now if Pag could just tackle a vehicle that runs on trash AND time travels, he would really give Doc Brown some competition.
