Hope Mills man touts uses for coal ash
HOPE MILLS (WTVD) -- At the corner of Hay and Anderson streets in Fayettevile, stands neon signs with a clear message.
Coal ash can create jobs. Lots of them.
Tommy Hall, a Hope Mills man, is pushing a product he said he's patented after four years of experimentation - "Plashtic."
Plashtic is a mix of plastic and coal ash. Hall said the re-usable substance can create water filters, auto parts, road material and much more.
The clean water aspect comes through eliminating coal ash mercury contents by fusing it with the petroleum product in plastic, Hall said.
"You can melt this over and over and over again," said Hall, digging his hands into a huge bucket of plastic shred. "It's not all an one-time thing. I melted this about four times already and melted it over and over again. It still turns into the same thing. It's ready to be made into product. It's begging for work."
Hall and three of his friends set up a demonstration shop on Hay Street Tuesday morning, with the plastic shred bucket and hardened coal ash materials on display in the back of his pick-up truck. Hall said since patenting plashtic several months ago, manufacturers have reached out to him with interest.
So far though, there's been no deal. He believes the alternative to dumping is a sure-fire way to create product, environmental cleansing, and jobs.
"This here is the best thing that ever hit the market, since the automobile and since the first plane that was ever flown by the Wright Brothers," Hall declared.
