This has been done for decades.... does "figure out" mean read and produce same results?
Mrs. Robinson, "the future is plastics" ; -)
The majority of the time the process requires more energy and raw materials than beneficial, but scale and application is everything.
PopSci - A Japanese inventor has figured out a way to convert plastic grocery bags, bottles and caps back into the petroleum from whence they came, providing a ready fuel source for individual homes that also diverts waste from landfills.
Akinori Ito's plastic recycling machine heats up waste plastic, traps vapors in a system of pipes and water chambers, and condenses the vapors into crude oil, explains the website Clean Technica. It's not the first machine to do this - a massive plant outside Washington, D.C., is testing the process, for instance - but it's small enough for household use.
Ito's machine turns two pounds of plastic into a quart of oil, using only one kilowatt-hour of energy. The crude oil can be used in some types of generators or it can be further refined into gasoline, Clean Technica reports.
Ito is selling it through his Blest Corp., but buyer beware: As of now, it will set you back about $10,000. Ito hopes the price will drop as demand and production increase.
Ito's invention is interesting because it puts the plastic back into the pipeline, as it were.
[Clean Technica via Cosmic Log]
Related? Crude Oil No Longer Needed for Production of Plastics