A Japanese inventor has created a machine that turns ordinary plastic waste into oil. The oil can be used as an engine lubricant or further refined to make gasoline, diesel and kerosene. With a couple pounds raw plastic waste—from bottle caps to cellophane—the machine can create one liter of oil. The machine and its inventor have become part of a United Nations campaign to teach children the value of what would otherwise be called garbage. The intent is to raise awareness of the power of recycling and to teach children to care for the environment, not only for the environment’s sake, but for the value in our ‘garbage’, as well.