Plastic Roads: The Solution to Waste?

The harmful effects of plastic have been known for years and have been a problem for years. But now MacRebur has found a solution: plastic roads. Their mission? To tackle two problems at once: reducing plastic waste and improving road quality. 

What are plastic roads?

Currently, our roads are made of bitumen, which uses oil, stones, crushed stone, and sand to create the surface. MacRebur wants to replace the oil with plastic waste. Instead of dumping our waste on a mountain, it’s better to use it to build roads.

Why are plastic roads necessary?

We’ve been aware of plastic pollution for years, but the real breakthrough in understanding just how harmful this pollution is didn’t come until 2018. Through shocking images of, among other things, waves of plastic washing ashore in the Dominican Republic and David Attenborough’s popular documentary, *Blue Planet*, which showed an albatross feeding plastic to its chicks.

How much plastic is used in a road?

It takes about 684,000 plastic bottles—or 1.8 million plastic bags—to build one kilometer of road using MacRebur’s solution. That’s nowhere near as much as we throw away each year, but it’s a start. It’s estimated that we throw away 22 quadrillion plastic bottles and 500 quadrillion plastic bags annually.
Would you like to know what you can do to reduce your own plastic use? Then read these blog posts:

1. Reduce your plastic use
2. Self-consumption of green energy
3. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

How environmentally friendly are plastic roads?

Although it’s obviously fantastic that plastic waste can be reduced, turning plastic into roads also has a downside. During production, the plastic mustbe broken down and incinerated. This releases harmful molecules into the atmosphere.
On the other hand, it’s still a new project and is being further developed to solve problems.

And what's next?

Plastic roads can not only address the plastic waste problem but also contribute to the local economy. Local waste can be processed locally into a plastic road. MacRebur also states that it can recycle its plastic roads when they are no longer usable.