Plastic asphalt - the road of the future
Last reviewed: 16.05.2018
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Asphalt is not the most useful coating, 27 kilograms of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere in the production of each ton, besides it has the ability to absorb heat and leads to the formation of thermal islands in the city (areas where the air temperature is higher than outside the city). But also plastic wastes represent a threat to the environment, which accumulate in huge amounts in landfills and can not all be recycled into other useful things for the person and his life.
Scientists from different countries are working in this direction and, perhaps, the situation will change in the coming years, but one construction firm from Holland has proposed a new form of road surface that will be made of plastic waste.
The construction company VolkerWessels shared its plans for the manufacture of paving, which is based on recycled plastic. This "asphalt" requires less maintenance, in contrast to the traditional, in addition, is able to withstand large temperature differences (from -40 to +800C).
The laying of the plastic road takes only a few weeks.
The head of the company Rolf Mars VolkerWessels noted that the road from plastic is much easier, which will reduce the load on the ground, in addition, such roads will be hollow, which will facilitate the process of laying pipelines and cables.
Another advantage of plastic asphalt is low operating costs. The road sections assembled at the plant can be delivered to the desired location, where they can assemble the coating in a relatively short time, which will avoid traffic jams caused by road works.
Also the head of VolkerWessels noted that plastic asphalt, in comparison with traditional road surfaces, in addition, plastic is easier to maintain.
Despite the fact that the project for the creation of plastic asphalt is conceptual, but the company hopes that in the next three years they will be able to represent the highway completely from recycled plastic waste, in addition, an interested party has appeared in this project - Rotterdam, which is a supporter of sustainable technologies.
The engineering bureau of the city council of Rotterdam noted that they support the project for the creation of plastic asphalt by VolkerWessels. One of the leading engineers of the city noted that Rotterdam is always ready for experiments and innovations, in addition, there is a so-called "street laboratory" in the city, in which it is possible to test such innovations.
According to Rolf Mars, the idea of processing plastics in asphalt has great potential, as in the future such roads can be additionally equipped with heating or to make an ultra-quiet surface.
Now the project is only on paper, in the near future specialists plan to start testing such a road surface in the laboratory to make sure that this coating will be safe in all weather conditions.
Now the company is looking for partners and plastics producers who are ready to cooperate, and also experts are looking for universities and research centers in which it will be possible to process plastic waste.