All kinds of recycled waste goes into public roads these days, including blast furnace slag, scrap tires, and roofing shingles, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
An estimated 300,000 metric tons of recycled plastic are also used annually as a binder additive for public roads in the U.S. But that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the five trillion pieces of plastic junk currently floating in the oceans, to which eight million metric tons of plastic waste gets added every year.
The Netherlands is trying to take this recycling to another level, and is vying to become the first country to pave streets with materials made entirely from plastic waste.
Dutch-based KWS Infra, the roads division of VolkerWessel, is piloting a program to make roads from plastic garbage, including bags and bottles extracted from the ocean, according to Fast Company. This PlasticRoad project, which is still on the drawing board, is part of a larger initiative to rid the seas of its “plastic soup”.
Alex van de Wall, KWS’s innovation manager, says that the plastic being used would include a waste stream that normally doesn’t have high-end recycling applications and would otherwise be burned.
KWS sees a number of advantages to using plastic trash for roads over asphalt or concrete:
• Recycled plastic has a considerable lower carbon footprint than the production of asphalt, which accounts for 2% of global carbon emissions. Plastics can also withstand greater extremes of temperature—between -40 Celsius and 80C.
• Plastic roads could be modularized—i.e., made in factories and then snapped together in the field—so a road could be built quicker than with asphalt. KWS also claims that plastic-made roads would be far more durable and easier to maintain and repair than asphalt roads.
• Plastic could be colored white, which would help keep cities cooler and reduce what van de Wall says is the “heat island” effect caused by asphalt paving. Once this concept is translated into an actual product, “There are many options,” he says.
• When a plastic road wears out, it could be recycled again.
KWS thinks it can overcome some of the problems related to using plastic for roads, such as how the product reacts to changing temperatures and gets very hot. The company plans to test plastic roads in the lab first and then try them out at a “street lab” in Rotterdam.
“We’re very positive towards the developments around PlasticRoad,” said Jaap Peters, from that city council’s engineering department. “Rotterdam is a city that is open to experiments and innovative adaptations in practice.”
KWS is currently looking for plastic supply partners to assess the financial feasibility of its design. And if this concept pans out, the company expects to export the idea to other countries.
Related Stories
Green | Apr 20, 2015
USGBC opens public comment period for LEED for existing multifamily buildings
The new LEED Operations and Maintenance: Multifamily program will offer solutions for existing multifamily projects with at least 20 units.
Cultural Facilities | Apr 16, 2015
Milwaukee’s Lakeshore State Park visitor center will be ‘off the grid’
The plans also include a built-in wastewater treatment system and rainwater collection.
Green | Apr 16, 2015
Passive House Institute introduces new categories for building certification
The new evaluation procedure considers the building in an environment where only renewable energy is used. Sun and wind provide the primary electricity.
Green | Apr 16, 2015
New version of Building Energy Data Exchange Specification launched
BEDES is a dictionary that facilitates consistent exchange of building characteristics and energy use data between tools and databases in the building energy efficiency sector.
Green | Apr 14, 2015
USGBC will recognize energy and water standards for the Living Building Challenge
This move means that projects achieving the energy and water requirements in Living Building Challenge will be considered as technically equivalent to LEED.
Green | Apr 7, 2015
USGBC survey shows Fortune 200 companies prioritize green building
The world’s top-performing companies are prioritizing sustainability as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts, and a majority of them are using LEED to achieve their goals, according to the new survey.
Codes and Standards | Apr 6, 2015
DOE releases Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines
The guidelines are aimed at strengthening and streamlining commercial building workforce training and certification programs for workers in energy auditing, building commissioning, building operations, and energy management.
Green | Apr 3, 2015
Georgia may ban use of LEED on state buildings
Georgia's state legislature is considering a measure to require all state buildings to only use green building standards that permit the use of Georgia's lumber.
Green | Apr 3, 2015
Energy benchmarking law helps make D.C. top ranked Energy Star city
First-in-the-nation law requires public reporting of annual energy performance
Green | Apr 1, 2015
Global wind power installations expected to slow through 2019
After a 20% falloff in 2013, the global wind power industry made a strong comeback in 2014, with a record 51.2 gigawatts installed. But a new report from Navigant Research forecasts a curtailment in growth.
