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LOS LUNAS — The Los Lunas Village Council approved a purchase agreement with PlastikGas for a 4-ton plant to convert plastic to fuel.
The Dallas-based company first came to Los Lunas to demonstrate its plastic-to-fuel technology in 2022. With its proprietary tech, the company’s plants utilize a vaporization process to turn plastic into fuel.
The plant can process seven different types of plastic and transform them into up to six different types of usable fuel — gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin, liquefied petroleum gas and coke ash. PlastikGas’ 20x40 foot proof-of-concept plant was unveiled that year.
The council approval, by a 4-1 vote, clears the way for the village to run the closed-circuit plant to begin converting plastic to fuel at its current location, the Los Lunas Transfer Station on N.M. 6, west of I-25. Though the facility can handle 4 tons of plastic per day, the initial usage will be 1 ton per day, said Assistant Public Works Director Britanny Armijo.
“We expect a savings of approximately $100,000 a year in fuel costs for the Solid Waste Division,” Armijo said in her report. “The plant will operate without additional water needed or chemicals, and no wastewater will be produced.”
Once produced, the fuel will be used by the village’s Solid Waste Division, said solid waste superintendent Arturo Romero. He told the council a buyer had already been found for the coke ash produced as a byproduct. Coke ash is an ingredient for industrial fertilizer, he explained.
Councilor Gino Romero, who cast the lone dissenting vote for the purchase of the plant, asked numerous questions about the plant, emphasizing the possibility that the fuel could cause problems with village-owned vehicles as well as questions of legal exposure because of the plant and the viability of the plastic-to-fuel technology.
PlastikGas Executive Vice President Martin Suazo gave numerous answers to councilors’ questions, including assurance that the high-octane gasoline produced would be compatible with village vehicles. He estimated the plant would be up and running within three to four months.
Suazo also assured the council that technicians from PlastikGas would be onsite until the plant is fully functioning to assist with any queries or problems.
The ongoing discussion of the fuel conversion plant began picking up speed in 2024. In May of that year, the village began taking a permanent PlastikGas plant into consideration. The company offered the village a considerable discount to purchase the plant, which is reflected in the agreement approved by the council — $1.4 million compared to the total retail price of $3.5 million.
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In 2024, the village put down a $200,000 refundable deposit for the plant, which requires an area about 100-feet wide and 200-feet long.
The village’s solid waste division has been working since December on logistics, testing a permitting for the plant.
In January, Los Lunas Public Works Director Michael Jaramillo reported the village had been “very busy” working on the project.
“It’s new to the state of New Mexico, without a doubt, probably even to the country. There’s not very many of these facilities, but we’re excited because I think this is really a good possibility for us to deal with the plastic issue we have.”
In other business, the council:
• Unanimously approved a zone change for the half-acre property on Sun Ranch Village Loop NW from commercial-1 to special use. The change of zoning of the property, currently owned by Baca Law Offices, was requested to allow for an operations hub for emergency medical services to operate in the building and on the property, which once housed Los Lunas Motorsports.
During the question and answer period, the council was informed that American Medical Response Ambulance Service (AMR) would occupy the building and use it as a hub for operations in Valencia County. AMR will continue to use its staging area off N.M. as well. The new location off Main Street west of I-25 will be used to house AMR’s 12 ambulances. The company will continue stationing ambulances at various locations in Valencia County.
• Approved a new collective bargaining agreement between the village and the Los Lunas Firefighters Association Local 4297. The two-year agreement takes effect on July 1 and runs through June 30, 2027. The department will be adding new positions and making several promotions now that the agreement is in place.
• The hiring of Loretta Francine Scott as a Streets Maintenance Worker II was also unanimously approved during the meeting.
