WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Like the alchemists who once tried to turn lead into gold , a green entrepreneur says he has found a cost-effective method for turning plastic trash into oil . The Envion plant turns plastic garbage into oil by isolating petroleum from the plastic 's other ingredients . During a recent visit to his new demonstration plant in Maryland , Envion CEO Michael Han describes his process : Waste plastic is shredded and melted and then processed in a way that separates the petroleum from the rest of the ingredients . At one end of the machinery , shredded plastic trash is dumped in a hopper and goes up a conveyor belt into a `` reactor . '' At the other end is a spaghetti of pipes and valves and tanks . Han turns open a spigot on one of the pipes and produces a liquid the color of apple juice . It smells kind of like diesel , and Han claims it 's ready to be processed for any number of uses : fueling cars , diesel generators or even jets . But not all of the ingredients in plastic can be refined into petroleum . All the chemicals that were added when the plastic was produced must be separated out and collected in a sediment tank . That could be a problem , says Kert Davies , a researcher with the environmental group Greenpeace . He has not visited the plant , but after reading Envion 's literature , he asked , `` what happens to the additives and the metals and the other things ? '' Envion is hoping to find asphalt makers who can use the sludge as an ingredient for paving after the metals are filtered out . Otherwise , it can be dried by microwaving and the dust sent to a landfill . `` Then you end up with a different problem , '' Davies said . `` Is that going to a hazardous waste landfill ? '' But Han says that it 's not hazardous , and most important , that the process releases no gas into the air . `` You do n't smell anything burning , '' he said . `` We do n't incinerate . We simply melt . '' Han set up his demonstration at the Montgomery County dump in Maryland . Amid bales of crushed yogurt containers and plastic bottles , there seems to be little risk that he will run out of trash to feed into his machine . Envion is pitching the technology to sanitation departments , promising it will cut down on their trash volume by consuming up to 10,000 tons of plastic per year while producing some revenue as well . The plant could produce up to 60,000 barrels of oil a year , Han says , and although some of that oil is used to keep the machinery running , the rest can be sold to an oil company for profit . The plant cost $ 4 million to build , but Han says it can produce oil for as little as $ 10 a barrel at a time when oil is selling for more than $ 70 a barrel . Davies said that `` finding new oil to burn is not the goal . The goal should be to burn less oil . '' But Han said , `` if there 's a way that we can solve the problem of accumulation of waste plastic in our country and at the same time turn it into a byproduct that is cost effective , then I think it 's a win-win situation . '' CNN 's Brian Todd contributed to this report .
Green entrepreneur says he 's found safe , inexpensive way to turn plastic into oil . Score: 6 Plastic waste is shredded , melted and processed . Process creates liquid that Han says can be used for fuel . Han says Envion process does n't release gases into the air .