The dangers of plastic use is now a major worldwide problem.
Plastic waste is a danger to the environment, animals and humans. Oceans, landfills and just Earth’s land is riddled with plastic waste. One company in the United Kingdom decided to combat this issue by creating a brilliant way to turn that waste into a functional product.
The company MacRebur has developed a method on how to turn old plastic bottles into renewable asphalt. This is not only an excellent solution, but it will also last longer than the traditional asphalt being used these days.
Toby McCartney, the CEO of MacRebur was working in Southern India with a charity when he came up with this idea. During his stay in India, he wondered why the landfill pickers would collect old plastic. He learned that the people melt these plastics and turn it into filler for the potholes. This is how the idea and technology was born.
The result is an upgraded asphalt that would increase the durability and the lifespan of the material. In addition to that, this idea will also lessen the carbon footprint by reducing the amount of fossil fuel that goes into the manufacturing process.
Sure enough, not all kinds of plastics can be used, but most can. This includes the most difficult plastic to recycle – black plastic.
This upgraded asphalt is a mixture of granulated plastic waste and asphalt concrete formula that is used to make roads. Once the roads are completed, they will look no different that any other asphalt road. However, the roads will be more flexible, meaning they will be able to withstand heat, cold and elemental damage.
The new asphalt is roughly 60% stronger and will last ten times longer than traditional asphalt roads.
First plastic road gets laid down in Mexico.
It’s not just the UK that is using this technology, countries like Mexico also implement this technology.
Talk about a brilliant idea!