Plastic roads the way to go ?

[Palinurus]

With the Ocean Clean-up project of Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat now finally starting for real, the next problem will be: what to do with the reclaimed plastic debris ? Here's at least one suggestion.

Source: No burning rubber here: plastic road opens in Zwolle - DutchNews.nl

No burning rubber here: plastic road opens in Zwolle

September 11, 2018 - By Senay Boztas

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Artists impression: KWS

They call it re-cycling.

The municipality of Zwolle today opens a trial 30m stretch of bike path made from reused plastic, in a project that hopes to speed up road building and give old bottles a second life.

The PlasticRoad, made “from as much recycled plastic as possible” has been created by the businesses KWS, plastic pipe maker Wavin and Total oil and gas group and the pilot is being supported by Zwolle.

The designers hope that the prefabricated road structure will be able to help prevent flooding, with a special hollow to hold water or carry cables, and last three times longer than traditional road structures.

KWS announced the concept in 2015, with inventor Simon Jorritsma saying: “You see a bottle; we see a road.”

A second trial road will be built in November in Overijssel province, reports the Telegraaf (in Dutch).

 

[Palinurus]

UPDATE: Recycled plastic roads ready for rollout after bike paths prove successful - DutchNews.nl

Recycled plastic roads ready for roll out after bike paths prove successful

May 28, 2020

Photo: Plasticroad.eu

Two successful trial runs of cycle paths made from recycled plastic waste have paved the way for larger scale projects in the Netherlands and abroad, the developers have said.

KWS, plastic pipe maker Wavin and Total oil said on Thursday that after a 18 months of testing and developing, they now have a design suited for industrial production and that the technology is ready to be launched on the market in the first quarter of 2021.

The first plastic cycle paths, which were built in Zwolle and Giethoorn with local council support, have proved to be able to manage excessive water from rain, severe drought and everything in between, the makers said.

The two 30 meter bike paths, which were made using 1,000 kilos of recycled plastic, were also found to have reduced CO2 emissions by some 50% to 70% compared to concrete or asphalt paths, the makers claim.

Sensors in the paths were also used to monitor wear and tear and the paths were found to stand up well to heavy weights, like refuse and maintenance trucks.

‘We have proven that our ground-breaking circular concept – a prefab road based on recycled plastic – is feasible in practice,’ Marcel Jager and Anne Koudstaal of the PlasticRoad team said.

The next generation of roads will be even more robust which will make the concept a viable alternative for asphalt and concrete motorways and car parks as well as pavements and school yards, the group said.

The roll out will initially be focused on clients in the Netherlands and neighboring countries, after which they expect to scale up to markets in other parts of the world, the makers said.

 

[Revolucionar]

UPDATE: Recycled plastic roads ready for rollout after bike paths prove successful - DutchNews.nl

Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me is the outgassing. They tell you not to reuse plastic bottles because they leech toxic substances into the liquids they hold. Imagine these huge tracts of plastic exposed to the sun and the elements 24/7. They might have thought about this and solved this issue, but the articles make no mention of this, so I wouldn't expect that.
Just another feel good story of how we can fix the devastation we're doing with technology, in my opinion. The only solution for the problem of plastic is not recycling, it's getting rid of plastic altogether, except in those instances where it's the only solution and where it won't be used in everyday expendable use cases like packaging and disposable utensils or plates.

 

[Gabriela]

Hello!

I think it will be toxic for sure because plastic is constantly degrading, but if they mix it with something else to prevent that maybe it is viable.

Here in Argentina there is a company that is making houses out of recycled plastic "wood", floors, fences, etc. I would not have a plastic house but maybe a fence or a table. That would be a nice solution (part of).

 

[Palinurus]

I went to their website to see whether your questions and doubts already got any answers to them but failed to find anything substantial in that regard. The Dutch version of it announces an upcoming make-over of the site as they are now preparing to go fully commercial but the English version has no such mention (yet). So for the moment we're not able to get any clarity on possible problems with outgassing, toxicity and other environmental damage.

The only thing I can contribute for now is a remark about the legal rules and statuary requirements on those items which are quite strict and severe in the Netherlands, and under stringent inspection as well. The fact that the pilots were deemed successful while implemented in close cooperation with local authorities may indicate that no additional difficulties on that front were detected. FWIW.