Andy Lera is trying to change the way we look at plastic.

The local innovator has designed everything from Scandinavian kick sleds (self-propelled dog sleds) to a core for a heat recovery ventilation system.

"I've always looked at problems and tried to find solutions; how things can be done better,” Lera told the Star last week from his home near the Annie Lake Road.

Now, he's trying to make something useful of all the plastic in the Yukon's landfills.

He wants to convert it into oil to heat our buildings.

Lera found the Blest plastic oiling machine while surfing the Internet.

It was invented by a Japanese scientist who wanted to reduce the amount of waste in his country's landfills.

There are 20 cities in Japan using the machines, and only one in North America, located in Philadelphia.

Lera thinks this could reduce the amount of plastic we ship overseas and the litres of oil we ship north for our own use.

It's cheap, too — about 14 cents a litre.

Lera said oil in Whitehorse is going for about $1.20 a litre these days.

One kilogram of plastic can produce almost a litre of oil, and a large machine can take up to 50 kg of plastic an hour.

Lera calculates a machine could produce about 1.6 million litres of oil a year, based on the amount of plastic he thinks is in the landfill now.

"Basically, the machine takes the plastic, heats it up, melts it into vapour and then the vapour condenses into oil,” he explained.

It can take any type of plastic – from broken toys to yogurt containers— except for plastic bottles.

For Lera, it boils down to one question: does it make sense to ship our plastic around the world or convert it into oil here?

He's already leaning to the latter.

When asked if he thinks it would work in the Yukon, Lera's answer, only two weeks into the project, was clear.

"I think that it's very, very feasible here”

There's another side to the equation, too.

Lera explained that a lot of farms in Asia have stopped growing crops and turned their land into plastic sorting areas.

Farmers are scavenging for high-quality plastic and burning the rest, Lera said.

"People are moving away because they can't breathe.”

The Yukon's plastic recyclables are currently being trucked to southern Canada and then shipped to India.

The Cold Climate Innovation Centre is funding Lera's project. He hopes to prove his concept will work in the territory and provide the centre with a "roadmap” for bringing the Japanese technology here.

Lera imagines funders will purchase a demonstration machine (which costs about $15,000) to make sure it would work in our climate.

A medium-sized machine costs about $150,000, while the largest is around $900,000.

He's studying the feasibility of the project in Whitehorse, Haines Junction and Mount Lorne, and is still figuring out if all three communities need a machine or if it would be better to purchase one mobile machine.

"Our mandate is to support local innovators, like Andy Lera, whose ideas may provide economic and ecological benefits to the Yukon,” said Stephen Mooney, the director of the cold climate centre.