A way to re-use Plastic Waste – as Asphalt
Plastic Waste as Asphalt
Plastic is everywhere around us, and it would be impossible to imagine a world without plastic materials. However, as we all know, this great material has a downside. It does not disappear or vanish if it is thrown into nature. As a result, a lot of countries are fighting with plastic waste. Therefore, we must develop ways to use and re-use plastic waste in a better and more efficient way than today.
The good news is that there are many initiatives around the world that address this challenge. These initiatives originate in both public and private organisations. Consumers, companies and governments want to do something about the plastic challenge.
We, Euro Machinery, are a company in the plastic industry, and we are very interested in recycling initiatives. In our blog here, we wish to highlight the initiatives when we come across them. For instance, we have found information about how plastic waste can be used in building roads. In this article we will focus on two ways to build roads out of plastic waste. The first initiative describes how chemical characteristics in bitumen in asphalt can be improved by plastic scrap, and the second one describes a method where road construction parts are used for building roads.
Plastic Waste can improve Asphalt for our roads.
San Miguel Corporation from Philippine is thinking in new ways to re-use plastic. This company is one of Philippine’s largest with operations in beverages, food, packaging, fuel and oil, power and infrastructure. SMC have together with the science company Dow Chemicals used plastic scrap to improve the properties of bitumen which is used for making asphalt. This new material for roads is expected to be stronger than traditional asphalt. As a result, it should contribute to roads a longer life span. Roads made of this new material are expected to be safer, for instance due to increased skid resistance. This is on top of a more economical way to produce roads, and an expected and remarkable reduction in plastic waste in the nature.
SMC and Dow Chemicals plan soon to begin to test the material for smaller projects like side walks and parking lots. As soon as safety and quality have been proved the company plan to use the material for larger constructions. The company states that their findings are open to everyone who are interested.
The first Plastic road is a reality in the Netherlands
Another way to use plastic scrap for roads have seen its light in Netherlands, where the first pilot project is a reality. Here 3 companies KWS, Wavin and Total have joined to produce plastic roads. The method is to use prefabricated modular plastic forms and build roads of these. The collaboration expects these Plastic roads to last 3 times longer than traditional asphalt roads. Furthermore, the goal for these roads is that the construction time should be 70% faster, the roads are 4 times lighter, and the roads are 100% circular. The goal is that the roads are made of plastic, as much as possible. This means that we have a place to put plastic waste, so it is not piling up.
Euro Machinery buy and sell machines for the flexible plastic industry and recycling industry. Therefore, we follow very closely the development in the recycling of plastic, and new ways to use recycled plastics. As a result, we highlight topics on our website that has to do with the recycling of plastic.
We want to be up-to-date regarding the machines and processes that can contribute to improved ways of using plastic materials and recycled plastic extracts. We are always looking for machines that could be interesting for our customers. Therefore, if you are looking to buy or sell recycling machines and equipment, we can be helpful. We have great European brands as EREMA in our recycling machines database.
Sources to this article:
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/03/12/san-miguel-corporation-to-build-roads-out-of-recycled-plastic/
https://www.topgear.com.ph/news/industry-news/roads-recycled-plastic-a962-20190312
