Waste fuel to reach new heights

A single-engined aircraft is set to fly from Australia to the UK using fuel from plastic waste.

The Cessna 172 will fly 10,500-miles (16,900km) from Sydney to London in July this year, with experienced Flying Doctor and aerobatics pilot, Jeremy Rowsell, at the controls.

Never tested in the air before, the aircraft will be fuelled with 1,000 gallons of aviation-grade diesel refined exclusively from melted-down “end-of-life”, non-recyclable plastic that would otherwise end up as highly polluting landfill.  The plastic includes domestic packaging and wrapping waste.

The six-day journey will involve Rowsell flying a tight schedule of some 1,500 miles a day at a speed of about 115mph - roughly 15 hours of daily flight.  The small plane will fly across Asia, the Middle East and then Europe at an altitude of 5,000ft – significantly lower and slower than commercial long-haul passenger flights, which generally cruise at altitudes of 40,000ft at around 550mph (885kph).

Stopovers on the journey will be far from relaxing, with a requirement to collect five tons of discarded packaging and waste, reclaimed from local rubbish dumps. The plastic will then be shipped to Cynar, the Dublin-based refining company, that will help process the waste into aviation-grade diesel.