Plastic Roads From Recycled Materials | Is It A Good Idea?

Описание: Plastic Roads From Recycled Materials | Is It A Good Idea?

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00:00
Act one: 00:05

you may have heard recently about plastic roads - and asked your self - are they a good thing. Well lucky you have Waster - because we were asking exactly the same thing.

The potential benefits are manifold. It is not exactly as if we have a shortage of waste plastic - so any beneficial usage for it is surely interesting. Australia reported it's first plastic road with Downer, Hume City Council, Close the Loop, Sustainability Victoria and RED Group working in partnership to build the first ever Australian road with soft plastics, glass and toner.

This project absorbed - Soft plastics from approximately 200,000 plastic bags and packaging, 63,000 glass bottle equivalents, toner from 4,500 used printer cartridges and 50 tonnes of recycled asphalt were used to build the road in Craigieburn, located in Melbourne’s north.

They argue that road has a 65 per cent improvement in fatigue life and a superior resistance to deformation making the road last longer and allowing it to better handle heavy vehicle traffic.

So let;s look at the concept.


Act 2 01:25

the concept originated in India as a way to get rid of waste plastics. There are two main types -
the "Plastic Road": consists of modular, hollow and prefabricated road elements made from consumer waste plastics; and
Plastic Roads: consist of an asphalt mix with plastic waste incorporated into the asphalt mixture.

The approach is basically - It involves
a) collecting waste plastics, including plastic carry bags, cups, soft and hard foams, and laminated plastics;

b) cleaning it by washing;

c) shredding it to a uniform size;

d) melting the waste plastics at 165 °C, and blending it with hot aggregates and bitumen and using this mixture to lay the road.


Aside from using waste - benefits include:

ability to choose the features of the road by changing chemical mix of the plastic

ability to work on pipes etc - whilst the road is still open

reducing the need for asphalt which uses oil - which is even more important in 2022 given price hikes.

better wear resistance and less need for maintenance.



The main negative is the liklihood the road will break into microplastics given expected wear and tear - this will inevitably impact plant and animal life.


Act 3 02:54

All in all - these types of roads sound really positive - but they are so new - and not widely used - so it is very difficult to gauge the impact over the long term. India is the leader - but we must note - even though c. 34000km of roads have been built - only 700km of the higher quality national highways have utilised the plastic waste.

The issue with microplastics is clearly a concern - and so the jury is still out on the long term pros or cons. We will keep you updated on the outcomes.


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