内容摘要：A spokesman for the school district had no comment on the lawsuit.

A spokesman for the school district had no comment on the lawsuit.

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BOCA DEL RIO, Mexico (AP) — A startup in Mexico is trying to help get a handle on one Gulf coast city’sproblem by converting it into gasoline, diesel and other fuels.With less than 10% of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel.

Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke.Carlos Parraguirre Díaz, chief technology officer at Petgas, said that in a week, the machine can process 1.5 tons of plastics and produce 356 gallons (1,350 liters) of fuel.

The process does require propane to initiate the heating, but once the pyrolysis begins, the gas it produces is used to keep it going, according to the company. And using fuel it produces does throw off carbon dioxide, but the company says its net impact is less than comparable fuels because their fuel is lower in sulfur.

Parraguirre Díaz said that the machine shows that “we can transform that (plastic) into a product that’s useful and has high value in the world economy.”It is molded into noodles and sheets and fermented into wine. In busy markets, motorcyclists lug 10-kilogram (22-pound) bags to their homes. Barges haul mountains of the grain up and down the Mekong River. Rice kernels are then dried and hulled by machines before they’re packed for sale in factories, lined from floor to ceiling with sacks of rice.

Rice shop owner Vo Tan Nha and his wife eat bowls of rice for lunch in their shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)Rice shop owner Vo Tan Nha and his wife eat bowls of rice for lunch in their shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Van has been working with one of Vietnam’s largest rice exporters, the Loc Troi Group, for the past two years and is using a different method of irrigation known as alternate wetting and drying, or AWD. This requires less water than traditional farming since his paddy fields aren’t continuously submerged. They also produce less methane.Using the drone to fertilize the crops saves on labor costs. With