Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with
According to the National Geographic Society, 9 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. However, only 9.5% of plastic waste is recycled worldwide. The scale of pollution is so high that the environmental community is talking about a crisis. To help the planet, large chemical company Dow Chemical decided to use plastic waste to build roads.
We are in website We are very impressed by such actions, so we want to tell readers about a non-trivial innovation.
There are entire garbage islands in the ocean, the most famous of which is the Pacific Garbage Pit, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Fish and other ocean inhabitants often mistake plastic waste for food: researchers find lids, lighters and other small objects in the stomachs of animals and birds.
Some types of garbage release substances that react with water and poison it. According to research, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more plastic waste into the ocean than the rest of the world.
Dow Chemical is concerned about ocean pollution. Therefore, since 2017, the company has been cooperating with the Indonesian government. The goal is to reduce the amount of trash thrown into the ocean by 20% by 2025. The company's assistance is atypical, because waste is not simply disposed of at special plants, but is involved in recycling - the process of returning waste to the production cycle.
Dow specialists recycle the waste and use the material to build roads. In addition to the resulting substance, the road surface contains minerals and bitumen, but their ratio is kept secret.
The first tests of plastic roads were carried out in the city of Depok. The prototype was 1.8 km long and covered an area of 9,781 square meters. m, it took 3.5 tons of plastic waste. Tests were carried out for two months, after which the road was recognized as more durable and stable than traditional ones.
Such roads are more durable than conventional asphalt roads: they are much less susceptible to mechanical destruction and corrosion. The road surface comfortably tolerates temperatures from -40 °C to +80 °C. The coating is wear-resistant, which means there will be fewer potholes. In the long term, this may even reduce the number of accidents and traffic jams. Experts from Dow Chemical are confident that roads made from plastic bottles will last at least 50 years, while conventional ones will last only about 16.
Skeptics worry that the new roads could emit harmful substances, but for this to happen the temperature must reach 270°C. There is another advantage: the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of roads made of plastic are 30 tons less, because 10% of the bitumen in them is replaced by recycled plastic.
Plastic roads already exist in the United States, and their construction is planned in Thailand. However, Dow Chemical's initiatives don't stop there. Thus, company employees and members of their families clean up the coastlines in their places of residence by participating in the new program.
The program is called #PullingOurWeight, its conditions are simple: each person must remove at least four pounds of waste - the average amount of every person on the planet produces every day. By October last year, the joint efforts were
VolkerWessels takes the issue of building modern and environmentally friendly roads very seriously. The goal of the project is to produce high-quality and durable road surfaces.
The main advantage of the new type of roads is that they consist of modules. Installing them is easier and faster. The construction period will be reduced to several weeks. Compacted sand will be used as a reliable base. Plastic modular roads are proposed to be laid in such a way that there are empty spaces inside them. Cable and pipes will be laid in them later. When working with cable laying, there will be no need to break the asphalt, which will prevent traffic jams from forming.
But the authors of the idea of building modular roads made of plastic look further. They expect to modernize them in the future in the following way: sensors will be placed under the road surface, collecting data on the road traffic flow. Rainwater will drain from the road, and the plastic underneath will be heated to prevent ice from forming. How will they do this? Passing cars will create vibrations, which will be converted into electricity. It will be used to heat plastic roads.
Advantages of plastic coating:
- Highly resistant material, does not deform under machine pressure;
- Withstands high temperature changes (from - 40 to + 80);
- Repairs must be carried out every 12 years;
- Service life 30 years.
The implementation of the project will lead to large financial savings from the state treasury. For comparison, asphalt roads need to be repaired every 4 years.
The first plastic roads may appear in the next three years. Initially, a prototype will be built and the structure will be tested for strength and stability. Calculations will be made for the maximum permissible load on the platform, after which the project will be put into operation. The plastic track will be tested in Rotterdam. To implement the project, it is necessary to find as many partners as possible who understand the processing of plastic waste and are able to invest financial resources in promoting the idea.
Environmental benefits of plastic roads
Of course, creating a network of plastic roads requires a large amount of consumables. They decided to collect plastic from all possible places in the environment. They will recycle plastic bottles that are intended for recycling. The project developers propose collecting material from the oceans. Dutch companies using their technology have begun to catch garbage from the ocean.
To protect the ecological environment, it is important to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When constructing asphalt roads, up to 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air. This figure is 2% of all gases released into the air when cars move along highways. Plastic roads will eliminate the problem of excess emissions.
In some places such ideas seem crazy, but in every madness there is probably some truth. Let's look for it here, for example.
The European company VolkerWessels, based in the Netherlands, has proposed building roads from recycled plastic. According to representatives of the company, the new technology will reduce construction costs and increase the durability of highways.
I haven’t found information on how much weight this road can withstand (who knows?), but if a section breaks, I think that replacement and a hole will be a significant problem.
But here are some more details about this road...
The roads will consist of separate hollow sections connected to each other. Recycled plastic, which is resistant to corrosion and weathering, can withstand temperatures from minus 40 to plus 80 degrees Celsius. The service life of such a coating can be approximately three times longer than that of asphalt. Eliminating the need for constant repairs will reduce traffic congestion.
Another advantage of a plastic road is its ease of installation in sandy and depleted soil. In addition, hollow niches inside the panels can serve to drain water and also be used for laying pipes and cables.
“The potential of our concept is very great. In the future, we expect to involve new partners in the development, as well as plastic processing enterprises, which will contribute to the development of the entire industry,” VolkerWessels noted.
The only downside to a plastic road is that it can be slippery when it rains. In addition, the construction of such roads will take weeks, not months. The plastic road is lightweight, which reduces pressure on the ground, and hollow, which provides quick access to underground utilities.
At the moment, the municipality of Rotterdam has become interested in the technology of creating plastic roads.
According to VolkerWessels, the supplier of material for the production of PlasticRoad road blocks will be the ocean, which has accumulated a huge amount of plastic waste. In addition to cleaning the environment, if widespread, this technology will also reduce harmful emissions.
By the way, asphalt accounts for 2% of all carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by the global transport system.
The possibility of testing “plastic” roads in real conditions is being considered by the authorities of Rotterdam, on whose order the project was developed. A working prototype of PlasticRoad will likely be built in a local "street lab" within three years.
Recycled plastic additives are increasingly being used in road surfaces. This type of road surface is stronger and more durable. Today this technology is used and developed by manufacturers from different countries.
Recycled plastic has many applications, and one of them is road construction. Today, coatings based on recycled plastic are one of the promising areas in this area.
Road surfaces made using recycled plastic are more durable and highly water resistant.
The benefits of this approach include reduced road maintenance costs, lower asphalt costs, and reduced waste disposal costs. At the same time, road surfaces created using recycled plastic have increased strength (including tensile strength) and high water resistance, have good grip, and are more resistant to engine oil and fuel. Due to the plasticity of the additive, it deforms less over time, and the number of cracks that appear during operation is minimal.
The technology for using recycled plastic in road construction was first patented in 2002 by the Indian KK Plastic Waste Management Ltd. The company's engineers developed a polymer mixture, KK PolyBlend, based on recycled plastic bags, plastic cups and PET bottles.
Road surface created using KK PolyBlend. Photo: facebook.com/plasticroads.
For every kilometer of road built using MR granules, about 684 thousand PET bottles or 1.8 million plastic bags are used.
The mixture replaces 8% of bitumen in the asphalt concrete mixture and improves the characteristics of the road surface. In Bangalore, where the company has a waste treatment plant, about 2,000 km of roads have been laid using KK PolyBlend. In total, this required 8,000 tons of plastic waste. The pavement has stood the test of time: in 2009, India's Central Pollution Control Board conducted a study that showed that roads built using the new technology maintained the integrity of the pavement without cracks or potholes. The plastic component makes the bitumen harder and prevents water from seeping into the coating. According to the producers of “plastic” bitumen, the amount of recycled waste required to lay one kilometer of road is about 1.5 tons (which is from 3 to 4 tons of non-recycled plastic).
The idea was picked up by the Scottish company MacRebur. Toby McCartney, its founder and ideological inspirer, developed his own technology for producing pellets from recycled plastic called MR. In total, the company offered three modifications of granules. MR6 is designed to increase the strength and maintain the shape of asphalt on low speed roads or bus stops and is effective in hot climates. MR10 increases the flexibility and stability of the web in cold conditions. And MR8 is proposed as a complete replacement for bitumen.
Laying asphalt mixture using MR granules. Photo: macrebur.com.
By using 20% recycled plastic in the form of low-melting pellets, the temperature of asphalt paving can be reduced by 40%.
According to McCartney, the technology can solve two problems at once: improve the quality of roads and solve the problem of plastic waste. However, he refuses to fully disclose the composition of his innovative development, which besides him, only the two co-founders of MacRebur know. They point out that their solution includes the use of non-recyclable plastics destined for landfill or incineration. For every kilometer of road built using MR granules, about 684 thousand PET bottles or 1.8 million plastic bags are used. Company specialists claim that the technology increases the strength of road surfaces by 60% and extends its service life by 10 times.
The first road built using MR granules opened in the north-west of the UK, in Cumbria, in 2017. By 2019, the development had reached the British capital: “plastic” asphalt was used to lay a bicycle path passing through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
The first plastic road in Cumbria. Photo: facebook.com/pg-macrebur.
Green Mantra, founded in 2011 and recognized last year as one of the fastest growing in Canada, develops polymer additives based on recycled plastic not only for road construction, but also in the asphalt roofing and composites segment. The company is also building a production line with new technology that can convert polystyrene waste into modified ink polymers. But its main development is an innovative technology that makes it possible to use up to 20% recycled plastic in the form of easily melting granules when creating road surfaces and thereby reduce the temperature of laying asphalt by 40%. Today, modified asphalt is used extensively in Vancouver, including on heavily trafficked sections of highways.
An article about how Russia plans to adopt Dutch experience in laying roads from recycled plastic. At the end of the article there is an interesting video about plastic roads in Holland.
Testing of the new road surface began back in 2015. High-strength plastic is supposed to be created from recycled waste, resulting in a very reliable material with a service life that exceeds the durability of asphalt pavement by 3 times.
Now Moscow specialists from the Center for Expertise, Research and Testing in Construction intend to comprehensively study plastic for roads. They plan to purchase material to test for strength, coating evenness, thickness and even reaction to temperature changes in order to make their own opinion.
Ecology and economy
Foreign experts are much more concerned than Russian ones about the state of the environment and the introduction of methods for its conservation. Asphalt, which is familiar to everyone, consists of gravel, sand and bitumen, obtained from minerals such as shale, coal, and oil. All these resources are increasingly depleted from year to year, becoming more and more expensive.
At the same time, fields, forests and even oceans are covered with a thick layer of solid waste, including an abundance of plastic. This fact gave chemists and technologists the idea of using garbage for good, cleaning the planet and at the same time creating ideal highways.
Plastic Road was born in the very reputable design bureau Royal VolkerWessels Stevin N.V, whose employees are considered leading in Europe in port and bridge, sports and road construction, telecommunications and energy supply for the last 160 years.
Advantages of plastic road
The technology for laying roads made of plastic is expected to be more simplified compared to other coatings. For cement concrete roads, through channels are provided in the slabs, through which steel cables coated with anti-corrosion lubricant are pulled, and the prestressed reinforcement is placed in polyethylene tubes for its free movement. The ends between the plates are filled with sealant. This creates savings on the construction of the road base.
Asphalt concrete roads require more careful preparation. First, a multi-layer base is prepared, consisting of soil, sand, crushed stone, then a base layer, an intermediate layer and, finally, a finishing coating.
What about plastic roads? They do not need such multi-layering; they will fit perfectly on a sand cushion even in regions with a very changeable climate and varied precipitation. This makes construction not only fast, but also extremely simple and cheap. Plastic is not only resistant to precipitation, but also to ingress of flammable substances, automobile oils and electrolytes. Resistance to any temperature, be it +80 or -40 degrees, makes plastic coating indispensable in Russian realities.
The presence of a cavity inside the plastic will make it possible to conveniently place any communications there: gas, water supply, communication lines, electrics. In the northern regions, it is even possible to provide the possibility of a heated road, significantly reducing the accident rate in harsh winters.
Cast road panels, installed end-to-end, are supposed to be immediately coated with all the necessary road markings, which will last significantly longer than conventional paint. And the grandiose plans of the authors of this project include the function of changing the color of the road depending on the ambient temperature to inform drivers, for example, about ice.
Tests have shown that the friction capabilities of car tires on plastic coating are in no way inferior to the grip on asphalt. Although plastic is not a hygroscopic material, experiments by technologists may well lead it to the desired degree of “roughness”. And in the event of precipitation, moisture from the surface is supposed to be removed through a large number of small holes, or through another method of drainage.
Disadvantages of plastic coating
With so many undeniable advantages, what are the disadvantages? There are still doubts about the maximum weight that a plastic sheet can withstand. For example, what will be the duration of operation of the outer lanes of highways along which intercity buses and loaded dump trucks ply. Can plastic withstand such a heavy daily load?
Is it possible in principle to build plastic multi-lane roads? Or will this material turn out to be more practical on not the busiest roads or even on country routes?
Dutch designers plan to find answers to all these questions experimentally with the help of a large construction company KWS Infra, which has volunteered to help in the pilot construction of the first plastic road in Rotterdam.
Competitors of the plastic road
Canadian road surface made from household waste
Canadian engineers were the first to experiment with a variety of road surfaces. In Vancouver, several streets have already been paved with an improved material consisting of a combination of asphalt with household waste - plastic cups and bottles, milk cartons and other garbage. The mixture is made in a ratio of 80:20, which ultimately produces gray asphalt that is quite familiar to the eye, whose beauty lies in the fact that several kilometers of it help clear cubic meters of land from debris. In addition, its production requires lower temperatures compared to traditional asphalt, which significantly reduces energy costs.
Of course, there was some criticism of the new coating. Skeptics have suggested that the presence of plastic in asphalt makes it more toxic, and therefore dangerous to human health and the environment.
Experts are quick to assure that asphalt and plastic contain the same hydrocarbons released from oil. So there is no difference in the level of toxicity between the materials.
And the fact that the production of a plastic road costs 3% more than an asphalt one is fully justified by the savings on the disposal of huge landfills of plastic waste.
American road made of polyethylene
American technologists have long introduced an alternative coating, EcoRaster. The amazing waterproof fabric consists of lattice plates connected into a single system, created from recycled polyethylene. The cells of the blocks are filled with pebbles, gravel and even vegetation, which saves soil cover from erosion, and storm water is cleared of pollution through natural filtration.
To produce the unique coating, plastic is subjected to high heat to form a paste and then mixed with traditional road components. Thus, the same asphalt road is obtained, improved, stronger and more durable thanks to the plastic component. And since the service life increases, the state saves the budget through repair work.
Even if such a road surface is damaged in some places, its repair will take a minimum of time, effort and material costs. The asphalt has to be crushed with a jackhammer, hot tar must be mixed and potholes must be filled in, or a new asphalt must be poured. And the plastic just needs to be heated to a certain temperature and, like a child’s plate, stretched over the damaged section of the road.
During the use of EcoRaster, scientists conducted a study and calculated that in just one year of operation, the level of greenhouse gases decreased by 300 tons.
Arizona rubber tire track
In the American state of Arizona, another type of asphalt surface is used - with recycled rubber tires. Such an unusual additive makes the road dry quickly after precipitation or accidental spills, and also less slippery compared to a traditional asphalt road.
Russian realities
If Russian road construction began to adopt the experience of foreign countries, this would save enormous sums on road repairs. Almost a million kilometers of highways annually require injections amounting to 1-2 trillion rubles.
At the moment, the share of modified roads with the addition of polymers in Russia is only 5%, compared to 15% in the USA and China or 20% in Europe.
So far, in our country there is only one monopoly company producing road polymer additives. However, SIBUR Holding understands how many difficulties it will have to face, and therefore does not plan to release an innovative product. The lack of a regulatory framework and technical standards for working with polymers for road surfaces brings the problem of plastic roads to the legislative level. Making changes to the technical regulations requires the corresponding GOST, this requires the approval of SoyuzdorNII, and it needs the approval of the higher Rosavtodor. And the latter will be put under pressure by road construction companies defending their interests.
Therefore, Russia will not see plastic roads any time soon.
Video about plastic roads in Holland:
Loading...
