In 2025, Petgas in Boca del Río reportedly processed 1.5 tons of plastic each week without oxygen; its pyrolysis system produced about 356 gallons of fuel

If you have ever stood near the recycling bin with your chip bag, shampoo pump, and takeout container trying to figure out which will actually be recycled in the end, then you know the harsh truth about recycling in America: most of it never gets done. Against this context, a recent news report describes a company tackling plastic waste in a sort of sci-fi fashion, notably, one based on Mexico's Gulf coast, which is worth a look, and maybe a little skepticism too.

According to AP News reporting from February 2025, an up-and-coming company named Petgas from Boca del Río, Veracruz, on Mexico's Gulf coast, has invented a machine capable of processing about 1.5 tons of plastic per week into some 356 gallons of fuel without fire or landfill, just through the use of heat and chemistry. Indeed, it seems that the plastic problem has finally found its match in such a machine.

How the machine actually does its thing


This method is called pyrolysis, and although it seems like something out of science fiction, it actually involves quite basic chemical processes. The plastic is heated in an enclosed container where there is no oxygen; this means it doesn’t just burn up. Rather, it is heated until it breaks apart at the molecular level and becomes smaller hydrocarbon molecules, the ones which are also used to manufacture gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and paraffin wax. AP's reporting confirms that the process does require propane to initiate the heating, but once pyrolysis begins, the gas it produces is used to keep the reaction going, according to the company; so it becomes largely self-sustaining after startup.

Isn't most plastic not even recycled anyway?

The world has made limited progress when it comes to getting plastic waste under control through recycling or through chemical recycling. According to the OECD's 2022 "Global Plastics Outlook," less than ten percent of plastic waste generated worldwide is recycled, roughly half ends up in landfills, and about a fifth to a quarter is dumped, openly burned, or leaks into waterways: figures that vary somewhat by year and methodology. In terms of per capita plastic waste generation, the US ranks among the highest of advanced nations. So a machine which can consume plastic waste that no one else wants is certainly useful in the context of a waste management problem that refuses to resolve itself, though it's worth keeping the scale honest: at roughly 78 tons of plastic a year, Petgas's current output is a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste generated globally each year.

The catch

It's here that the picture starts getting less rosy. Fuel derived through pyrolysis continues to be combusted within an engine, and combustion emits carbon dioxide, no matter the fuel. Petgas has acknowledged that its fuel has lower sulfur content compared to its peers, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's lower in carbon content.

A 2025 peer-reviewed study titled “Enabling Informed Decisions on Pyrolysis: A Key to Turn the Tide on Plastics Recycling,” published in the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal, found that pyrolysis's climate impact depends heavily on how a facility is operated and how its byproducts are handled. Looking specifically at diesel produced from plastic pyrolysis in the U.S., the researchers found that, depending on plant capacity and how co-products are accounted for, emissions can range from 28 percent lower to 30 percent higher than conventional fossil diesel. The same study raises an issue that may sound a bit less fancy: volatile organic compounds and other air pollutants can be emitted during pyrolysis operations.

Petgas isn’t a scam nor the ultimate solution to everything. It’s simply an effort on a smaller scale to solve a huge problem. At the very least, the plastic which otherwise would be dumped in a landfill now has a use. AP reporting notes that the company currently donates its fuel to the local fire department and food delivery services in Boca del Río. For an audience that has spent years watching "recycling" get used as a marketing buzzword, curiosity is probably the more useful reaction here, not outright endorsement. Plastic-to-gas conversion is an ingenious piece of engineering. It's not a climate solution.