For questions 1-10, listen to a talk about the likelihood of converting plastic to fuel and supply the blanks

with the missing information. Write NO MORE THAN FOUR WORDS taken from the recording for each
answer in the space provided.

- Plastic production is predicted to ________________ (1) in the next decade.

- Plastic was introduced in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt as an ___________________ (2).

- One of the ways to turn plastic into fuel is the pyrolysis method, in which energy is created by
________________ (3) by heating them up between 400 and 650 degrees.

- Cold plasma produces high-energy electrons, which are especially good at breaking down
_____________________ (4) found in plastic.

- Both hydrogen and methane could be used as clean fuels, since the output of ________________ (5) is
small.

- It is estimated that over 8 billion tons of plastic is now _________________________ (6) since we began
mass producing plastic 60 years ago, according to a study.

- The American Chemistry Council reports that plastic to fuel facilities in the US could create about 39,000
jobs, and 9 billion dollars ________________________ (7).

- One of the primary objections for some environmentalists to have is that the industry is
_________________. (8)

- Environmentalists fear that plastic to fuel is causing a _________________________ (9) when people
should instead be extremely concerned about all the damage being done to the environment.

- In a world fueled by money and sources like __________________ (10) being more and more expensive to
produce, an affordable fuel source might be what helps to win the industries over to adopting this idea.

KEY:

(1) keep skyrocketing

(2) alternative to ivory
(3) decomposing organic materials
(4) the chemical bonds
(5) harmful compounds
(6) inhabiting the earth
(7) in economic benefits
(8) deceiving people
(9) false sense of security
(10) petroleum
LISTENING TRANSCRIPT

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgrxxdVBEGc

What If We Turned Plastic Into Fuel?

Hey, are you thirsty?
Let’s say you’ve got 2 bottles of water in front of you: one is a plastic bottle, the other is a reusable
one. You already know that you should probably pick the reusable one. It takes less than a minute
to wash it, while the plastic bottle could take 500 years to decompose.
Plastic production like for our bottle on the left is predicted to keep sky-rocketing (Q1) in the next
ten years. And our planet is going to pay the price. But with all that plastic being made, is it
possible that we could do some good with it? What if we were to use all that plastic and convert it
into fuel? Could our cars run on fuel created from plastic? Could we live in a plastic-fueled home?
How can we convert plastic into fuel? And could there be a downside? This is What If is and here is
what would happen if we turned plastic into fuel…
Plastic hit the scene in 1869 when inventor John Wesley Hyatt offered the idea as an alternative
to ivory (Q2). Why? Well, billiards were all the rage back then and the suppliers could not keep up
with the demand for ivory to make the balls. So you could say the invention of plastic helped out
environmentally, mostly for our elephant friends. But since then plastic manufacturing has
doubled every fifteen years and it continues to do so. This puts plastic at the top of almost all
manmade materials.
So, how can we turn all that plastic into fuel?
We may have a couple of options. The most popular being the pyrolysis method. Pyrolysis creates
energy by decomposing organic materials (Q3) by heating them up between 400 and 650
degrees. This converts the material into fuels, heat or electricity. Now, let’s combine this,
something called “cold plasma”. “Cold plasma” produces high-energy electrons, which are
especially good a breaking down the chemical bonds (Q4) found in plastic. So if you were to marry
these to, you could take the plastic retreat as waste and convert them into methane, hydrogen
and ethylene. Both hydrogen and methane can be used as clean fuels, since the output of harmful
compounds is minimal (Q5). This process would allow us to give a new life to all this plastic waste.
Converting it into a valuable resource and making it available to industry for reuse.
But if we were able to pull it off, will it do any good? According to a study by the brand school of
Environmental Science and Management, since we began mass producing plastic about 60 years
ago, it is estimated that over 8 billion tons of it is now inhabiting the earth (Q6). Of that, more
than 6 billion tons of it is plastic waste. Up to the year 2015, less than 10% of it has been recycled
and nearly 80% of it is either in landfills or polluting the environment as litter. By using plastic for
fuels, we would be able to transform it into something other than just a base for products
destined to pollute our land and ocean. And it is good for more than just the environment. The
American Chemistry Council reports that plastic to fuels facilities in the US could create about
39.000 jobs, and 9 billion dollars in economic benefits (Q7). How is that for some inspiration. But
not everyone is on the plastic for fuels bandwagon.
Could there be a downside?
One of the primary objections for some environmentalists to have is that the industry is
deceiving people (Q8). Their concern is that this is not a form of recycling. Since plastic can only be
used once, and when they are processed into fuels, they become part of the problem, not the
solution. They also fear that plastic to fuel is causing a false sense of security (Q9) when we really
should be showing extreme concern about all the damage being done to our environment daily.
So after all that, could we pull it off? Well, plastic to fuel does not produce the same amount of
energy as petroleum. Yet, we’ll need to continue building and perfecting the plastic to fuel
process. In a world fueled by money and sources like petroleum being more and more expensive
to produce, a fuel source that is relatively cheap might be what helps to win the industries over
to adopting this idea. (Q10)
But plastic to fuel is only one of the ideas for countering the environmental extremes we are now
facing. What else can we create from a renewable source? Could we create something like food
from thin air?
Well, that is a story. ..
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