Plastic 101: Plastic Road (Part 2)

 Australia’s appetite for plastic hovers around 3 million tonne per year. The contribution to oceanic pollution stands at 130,000 tonnes. The measly recycling figure of 12% per annum equates to 360,000 tonnage is nowhere near to make a dent on the gargantuan target far shorter than industry required. On an average we emit 15.4 tonnes of CO2 annually which is four times higher than world average emission. 

Recycling challenges involved are:

• ·      Scalability: Construction of a recycling facility costs are expensive.
• ·      Recyclability: Not all plastics are recyclable. For instance, common recyclable plastics include High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). On the other hand, plastics such as Polystyrene (PS) and Polypropylene (PP) are still widely used but remain non-recyclable.

 

• ·      Flexible packaging are more difficult to recycle because of variability in contamination
• ·      Lacklustre policy progress
• ·      Technological Issues

Out of all nascent technologies that are available at hand using plastics in roads has emerged as one of the potential solutions that can be scaled, and impactful if done right.

Types of Plastic Road

·      Road with Plastic (waste plastic as binder)

PlasticRoad (used to construct hollow sections of road)

Figure: PlasticRoad

Plastic Road Production Process

 

As of 2023, there are countries which are trialling and leading the charge with the technology and feeding us with vital data as to its

effectiveness, sustainability and performance. 

Plastic 101 (Part 1)