Why VolkerWessels Plastic Roads for Netherlands is a good way to recycle Plastic

“Plastic offers all kinds of advantages compared to current road construction, both in laying the roads and maintenance.”

Rolf Mars, the director of VolkerWessels’ roads subdivision, KWS Infra, commenting on the plan to use plastic to pave roads in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Jamaicans struggling with plastic blocking our drains, take note!!!

The Netherlands could become the first country to pave its streets with plastic bottles.

This after the Rotterdam city council decided to use plastic as a greener alternative to asphalt as reported in the article “Netherlands to Build Roads With Recycled Plastic From the Ocean”, published Oct 21, 2017 by Joao Freita, Good News Network.

They're actually going forward with this crazy idea; a road made entirely from recycled plastic. Back then, Jaap Peters, from the city council’s engineering bureau, was upbeat on this idea on paper, quote: “We’re very positive towards the developments around PlasticRoad. Rotterdam is a city that is open to experiments and innovative adaptations in practice. We have a ‘street lab’ available where innovations like this can be tested.”

So what are the advantages of using plastic instead of asphalt to pave roads?

VolkerWessels and Plastic Roads – Putting Plastic Waste to good use

The construction firm VolkerWessels had unveiled plans on Friday July 10th 2015 as noted in the article “Crazy paving: Rotterdam to consider trialling plastic roads”, published Friday 10 July 2015 15.36 BST, The UK Guardian.

They plan to collect plastic from the ocean and recycle it to make the plastic roads. Not only will this gradually clean up all the plastic form the ocean, but it will also set a trend for the recycling of plastic to make other things.

For one, it requires  less maintenance than asphalt and can withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40º to 176º Fahrenheit (-40º to 80ºC).. it can also be laid in a matter of weeks instead of months as lighter materials can also be transported more easily and efficiently as well.

Sections of the roads can prefabricated in a factory and transported, reducing on-site construction. This translates to shorter construction time and low maintenance and hence less congestion caused by roadworks.  Asphalt is responsible for 1.6m tons of CO2 emissions a year globally – 2% of all road transport emissions, so using plastic is good for the environment overall.

Plastic roads are lighter, reducing the load on the ground. They can also be made to be hollow, easier to install cables and utility pipelines below the surface without having to worry about them. Cutting through plastic roads to make changes would require either a laser cutter, making them easier to repair, albeit that would be unlikely, given the durability and long life of plastic.

Studies suggest that nearly any type of plastic can be used. Scientists are already in the final stages of testing the safety of the material, with the first roads will be built later in 2017. Truly, this is god news for the plant that everyone can emulate!!!