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A pilot program at the county's Solid Waste Transfer Station in Derwood could one day change the way plastics are recycled in Maryland.

At its highest capacity the generator can melt 25 tons of plastic into oil daily in the alternative fuel program run by Envion Inc. of Washington, D.C.

"It's very simple, we just reverse engineer the plastic," said Envion chairman and CEO Michael Han. "You take untreated plastic waste, it goes through the generator on a conveyer belt and once the plastic is in the generator, it melts down to oil."

Han, 39, founded Envion in 2004 using his uncle's concept of converting solid waste into its original form, which for plastic, is oil, he said. A far infrared ray inside the generator heats the plastic at a consistent temperature to evenly melt the plastic, he said. The generator allows the engineers to monitor and control how much heat is used, Han said. Prior previous attempts from other engineers to convert plastic back into oil in were unsuccessful because they didn't have the technology to do it and have a quality product, Han said.

Old plastic milk jugs, water bottles and yogurt tubs are chopped into small pieces and are tested by Envion's 66 engineers to see which ones revert to cleaner oil, Han said. The plastics are then loaded into the generator and melted.

The generator at the waste station, which can handle more than 6,000 tons of waste a year, costs $4 million to build. Envion would sell its larger generator, which can turn 10,000 tons of plastic into 420,000 gallons of oil a year, to companies, Han said. The generator at the waste station in Derwood has produced more than 10,000 gallons of oil, he said.

Twenty-five oil and recycling companies have put in orders for 390 generators, Han said. Companies will pay a one time $7 million licensing fee and $200,000 annually for maintenance of the generators, he said.

The generator is safe for the environment and runs on remnants of the melted plastic, Han said.

Oils from the melted plastic range from $1 to $1.50 a gallon, Han said. Han said gasoline companies are some of his biggest customers. Han declined to name his buyers.

"The ethanol players and companies that manufacture gasoline are our main customers," said Han, who said his oil can be added to crude oil during the refining process to create gasoline. "They come and collect the oil from us. We have a 5,000 gallon storage tank at the center."

Montgomery County Councilwoman Nancy M. Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park, head of the council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee, said the committee has "put pressure on county's waste department" to find alternatives for safe energy resources.

Peter Karasik, manager of the waste station, said the station provides at no cost less than 10 percent of the plastic Envion has used.

"We would be interested to see what plastics they can take from our center once they have completed their research," Karasik said. "What we're interested in is if their research is successful they could find investors to build a center here in Maryland with the generators."

Todd Makurath, a spokesman for Envion, said the company is looking around the country where a fulltime operation could be housed.

County spokeswoman Esther Bowring said the generator will remain at the waste station until May.