A Scottish company has managed to develop sustainable roads by replacing the bitumen of conventional asphalt with recycled plastic.
Roads are in fashion, there’s no question about it. So is experimenting with them and the materials they’re made of to make them sustainable. On our I’mnovation website, we have previously written about roadways capable of recharging the vehicles traveling over them, roads capable of generating their own light, or solar roads capable of supplying energy to nearby towns.
This week we’ll discuss a further breakthrough: roads made of recycled plastic --just as you read it. Will it be possible to make use of solid residues to build communication routes and to redeem waste in such an almost poetical fashion? It seems so. In fact, some UK roads implementing this procedure are already operating.
According to data, there are around 40 million kilometres build around the world, usually made of rock pieces and sand mixed with bitumen, leading to the tarmac we all know. But the Scottish company MacRebur has succeeded in developing a new kind of plastic capable of substituting part of that mixture and, what is most important, it is made of 100% recyclable material.
This material, by the name of MR6, is not only remarkable for its innovative approach, but for its tremendous sustainability, since it could become the final solution for much of the plastic waste we generate.
The company claims that 10% of bitumen used in the manufacturing of conventional tarmac can be removed and substituted by this recycled plastic mixture using their technology. In addition, the resulting material is supposed to be up to 60% stronger, and its useful life 10% longer than traditionally-build roads.
Tests are still being performed, but if everything goes according to schedule we could see these roadways being implemented soon in many places across the UK, for now. Have you ever thought that you could be one day traveling in your car over that shower gel bottle you used last year? That moment is getting closer, so you should.
Source: Tu Experto
Image: MacRebur
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