CSIR lab has developed technology to convert plastic waste into diesel: Harsh Vardhan

Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that a CSIR lab has developed technology by which plastic waste can be converted into diesel and the process can be scaled up.

The minister told the Lok Sabha that CSIR was placed 17th in the Scimago Institutions ranking and there cannot be any misgivings about the work it is doing.

He was responding to a query by Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy and said the member did not have enough information about the work of CSIR labs.

Referring to his visit to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, in 2016, the minister said that they were working on technology to convert plastic into wealth.

He said when he visited the place this year, they had set up a technology demonstration plant in which one tonne of plastic waste gets converted to 800 liters of diesel in 24 hours.

He said it can also be converted to petrol and other petroleum products.

"It can be scaled up. In Delhi also we are going to set these plants," he said.