Waste plastics for roads

[Kb27]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210302-could-plastic-roads-make-for-a-smoother-ride

On a road into New Delhi, countless cars a day speed over tonnes of plastic bags, bottle tops and discarded polystyrene cups. In a single kilometre, a driver covers one tonne of plastic waste. But far from being an unpleasant journey through a sea of litter, this road is smooth and well-maintained – in fact the plastic that each driver passes over isn't visible to the naked eye. It is simply a part of the road.

This road, stretching from New Delhi to nearby Meerut, was laid using a system developed by Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a professor of chemistry at the Thiagarajar College of Engineering in India, which replaces 10% of a road's bitumen with repurposed plastic waste.

India has been leading the world in experimenting with plastic-tar roads since the early 2000s. But a growing number of countries are beginning to follow suit. From Ghana to the Netherlands, building plastic into roads and pathways is helping to save carbon emissions, keep plastic from the oceans and landfill, and improve the life-expectancy of the average road.

By 2040, there is set to be 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic in the environment globally. India alone already generates more than 3.3 million tonnes of plastic a year – which was one of the motivators behind Vasudevan's system for incorporating waste into roads.

It has the benefit of being a very simple process, requiring little high-tech machinery. First, the shredded plastic waste is scattered onto an aggregate of crushed stones and sand before being heated to about 170C – hot enough to melt the waste. The melted plastics then coat the aggregate in a thin layer. Then heated bitumen is added on top, which helps to solidify the aggregate, and the mixture is complete.

Many different types of plastics can be added to the mix: carrier bags, disposable cups, hard-to-recycle multi-layer films and polyethylene and polypropylene foams have all found their way into India's roads, and they don't have to be sorted or cleaned before shredding.

As well as ensuring these plastics don't go to landfill, incinerator or the ocean, there is some evidence that the plastic also helps the road function better. Adding plastic to roads appears to slow their deterioration and minimise potholes. The plastic content improves the surface's flexibility, and after 10 years Vasudevan's earliest plastic roads showed no signs of potholes. Though as many of these roads are still relatively young, their long-term durability remains to be tested.

By Vasudevan's calculations, incorporating the waste plastic instead of incinerating it also saves three tonnes of carbon dioxide for every kilometre of road. And there are economic benefits too, with the incorporation of plastic resulting in savings of roughly $670 (£480) per kilometre of road.

 

In 2015, the Indian government made it mandatory for plastic waste to be used in constructing roads near large cities of more than 500,000 people, after Vasudevan gave his patent for the system to the government for free. A single lane of ordinary road requires 10 tonnes of bitumen per kilometre, and with India laying thousands of kilometres of roads a year, the potential to put plastic waste to use quickly adds up. So far, 2,500km (1,560 miles) of these plastic-tar roads have been laid in the country.

"Plastic-tar road can withstand both heavy load and heavy traffic," says Vasudevan. "[It is] not affected by rain or stagnated water."

Similar projects have emerged around the world. The chemicals firm Dow has been implementing projects using polyethylene-rich recycled plastics in the US and Asia Pacific. The first in the UK was built in Scotland in 2019 by the plastic road builder MacRebur, which has laid plastic roads from Slovakia to South Africa.

MacRebur has also found that incorporating plastic improves roads' flexibility, helping them cope better with expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, leading to fewer potholes – and where potholes do happen, filling them in with waste plastic otherwise destined for landfill is a quick fix. The UK government recently announced £1.6m for research on plastic roads to help fix and prevent potholes.

[PSP415]

55 minutes ago, Kb27 said:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210302-could-plastic-roads-make-for-a-smoother-ride

On a road into New Delhi, countless cars a day speed over tonnes of plastic bags, bottle tops and discarded polystyrene cups. In a single kilometre, a driver covers one tonne of plastic waste. But far from being an unpleasant journey through a sea of litter, this road is smooth and well-maintained – in fact the plastic that each driver passes over isn't visible to the naked eye. It is simply a part of the road.

This road, stretching from New Delhi to nearby Meerut, was laid using a system developed by Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a professor of chemistry at the Thiagarajar College of Engineering in India, which replaces 10% of a road's bitumen with repurposed plastic waste.

India has been leading the world in experimenting with plastic-tar roads since the early 2000s. But a growing number of countries are beginning to follow suit. From Ghana to the Netherlands, building plastic into roads and pathways is helping to save carbon emissions, keep plastic from the oceans and landfill, and improve the life-expectancy of the average road.

By 2040, there is set to be 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic in the environment globally. India alone already generates more than 3.3 million tonnes of plastic a year – which was one of the motivators behind Vasudevan's system for incorporating waste into roads.

It has the benefit of being a very simple process, requiring little high-tech machinery. First, the shredded plastic waste is scattered onto an aggregate of crushed stones and sand before being heated to about 170C – hot enough to melt the waste. The melted plastics then coat the aggregate in a thin layer. Then heated bitumen is added on top, which helps to solidify the aggregate, and the mixture is complete.

Many different types of plastics can be added to the mix: carrier bags, disposable cups, hard-to-recycle multi-layer films and polyethylene and polypropylene foams have all found their way into India's roads, and they don't have to be sorted or cleaned before shredding.

As well as ensuring these plastics don't go to landfill, incinerator or the ocean, there is some evidence that the plastic also helps the road function better. Adding plastic to roads appears to slow their deterioration and minimise potholes. The plastic content improves the surface's flexibility, and after 10 years Vasudevan's earliest plastic roads showed no signs of potholes. Though as many of these roads are still relatively young, their long-term durability remains to be tested.

By Vasudevan's calculations, incorporating the waste plastic instead of incinerating it also saves three tonnes of carbon dioxide for every kilometre of road. And there are economic benefits too, with the incorporation of plastic resulting in savings of roughly $670 (£480) per kilometre of road.

 

In 2015, the Indian government made it mandatory for plastic waste to be used in constructing roads near large cities of more than 500,000 people, after Vasudevan gave his patent for the system to the government for free. A single lane of ordinary road requires 10 tonnes of bitumen per kilometre, and with India laying thousands of kilometres of roads a year, the potential to put plastic waste to use quickly adds up. So far, 2,500km (1,560 miles) of these plastic-tar roads have been laid in the country.

"Plastic-tar road can withstand both heavy load and heavy traffic," says Vasudevan. "[It is] not affected by rain or stagnated water."

Similar projects have emerged around the world. The chemicals firm Dow has been implementing projects using polyethylene-rich recycled plastics in the US and Asia Pacific. The first in the UK was built in Scotland in 2019 by the plastic road builder MacRebur, which has laid plastic roads from Slovakia to South Africa.

MacRebur has also found that incorporating plastic improves roads' flexibility, helping them cope better with expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, leading to fewer potholes – and where potholes do happen, filling them in with waste plastic otherwise destined for landfill is a quick fix. The UK government recently announced £1.6m for research on plastic roads to help fix and prevent potholes.

Think the only setback for us would be the constant opening and closing up of the road for cables laying, piping works etc. 

Otherwise perfect and good use of plastic waste. Perhaps in areas where strictly pavement type of usage or less frequent road works? 

Stay safe 

Cheers 

[Lala81]

Bill gates was saying, to get the world to carbon Neutral, every major manufacturing and industrial process in the world needs to be innovated to become greener.

Hopefully more governments will recognise this and provide funding for research and startups for the above. Cos there's no incentive to make more carbon-friendly cement etc otherwise. Otherwise the cost is prohibitive to existing companies to become greener.

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Lala81

[Jamesc]

Plastic is so useful. Can make bricks from them.

And the bricks will be 50% stronger than normal bricks and half the weight.

 

[Jamesc]

Old tyres can use as foundation and grind them up can make roads from them.

 

[Kangadrool]

May not be a good thing. Could just be another environmental hype. These plastic roads are going under extreme hot sun + to be rained on heavily  and there will be micro-plastic leaching. Where does the water flows to eventually? We have NewWater here. LOL

Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcylists are going to inhale the toxic fumes emitting out under the hot sun.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Kangadrool

[Volvobrick]

4 hours ago, Jamesc said:

Old tyres can use as foundation and grind them up can make roads from them.

 

If the road is made of tyre rubber, then our wheels can be 100% metal and will never wear out! No need to change cos no need tyres! 

[Beehive3783]

11 hours ago, Kangadrool said:

May not be a good thing. Could just be another environmental hype. These plastic roads are going under extreme hot sun + to be rained on heavily  and there will be micro-plastic leaching. Where does the water flows to eventually? We have NewWater here. LOL

Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcylists are going to inhale the toxic fumes emitting out under the hot sun.

While you are thinking of the greater good, I can imagine the govt people thinking along another line of, "how to improve GDP if we implement this = roads last longer = less road works = less income for cronies = less cashflow to simulate GDP growth and flow"

[Beregond]

On 3/7/2021 at 10:35 PM, Volvobrick said:

If the road is made of tyre rubber, then our wheels can be 100% metal and will never wear out! No need to change cos no need tyres! 

I think many years  ago.

Lta trial with rubber expressway before.

A small stretch  at jurong side 

[Volvobrick]

2 minutes ago, Beregond said:

I think many years  ago.

Lta trial with rubber expressway before.

A small stretch  at jurong side 

History has it that any thing LTA trials, sure ends up no sound no picture....

[Beregond]

16 minutes ago, Volvobrick said:

History has it that any thing LTA trials, sure ends up no sound no picture....

i dun know if any bro remember that news.

but i believe it dun work well. its more noisy ( no big deal really)

but when it rain i feel unsafe, the traction when wet lose alot compare to normal surface road. 

it would be better to use it a foundation rather then the surface

[1fast1]

On 3/8/2021 at 9:23 AM, Beehive3783 said:

While you are thinking of the greater good, I can imagine the govt people thinking along another line of, "how to improve GDP if we implement this = roads last longer = less road works = less income for cronies = less cashflow to simulate GDP growth and flow"

I praised you with a thumbs-up. 

No smiley face. 

Because it's not a joke. 

That's how they *actually* think. 

[Beehive3783]

On 3/13/2021 at 7:42 AM, Turboflat4 said:

I praised you with a thumbs-up. 

No smiley face. 

Because it's not a joke. 

That's how they *actually* think. 

Thank you for your compliment, so I can join PeeAPee and take million dollar celery now?

[1fast1]

46 minutes ago, Beehive3783 said:

Thank you for your compliment, so I can join PeeAPee and take million dollar celery now?

Just because you know how they think doesn't mean you can join. 

You must also think how they think. 

Alas I cannot do that. 

I want to keep being able to meet my eyes in the mirror every morning. 😁

[Mkl22]

On 3/10/2021 at 10:25 AM, Volvobrick said:

History has it that any thing LTA trials, sure ends up no sound no picture....

if there is anything successful... for sure they will blow their own trumpets loudly... no sound no pictures mean utter failure. like ERP2! 🙄