A Plastic Bike Path Has Opened in the Netherlands. Is This The Future of Plastic Roads?
“You see a bottle; we see a road”
Plastic path inventor Simon Jorritsma
I know you’re going to love this as much as I do! A road made from plastic bottles, plastic cups and plastic packaging has opened in the Netherlands – isn’t that a great way of getting rid of plastic waste? Will plastic roads be in our not-too-distant future?
Is it perfect? Not totally. But it’s a great start. it’s a pilot project so I’m hoping that similar roads can be made elsewhere.
This pilot road is designed for bikes – you know how popular (and green) bikes are in the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries. But if it works – adapting to weight, heat, rain etc. – it should be able to be used for normal traffic all over the world
Advantages of Plastic Roads
These new plastic roads have several advantages
- This new road is expected to be three times as durable as an asphalt alternative.
- It also contains sensors to monitor the road’s performance, including its temperature, the number of bikes that pass over it and its ability to cope with the traffic.
The road is made up of pre-fabricated sections, which makes it cheaper to manufacture.- The sections are light, so they are easier to transport (and transport emissions are reduced)
- The pre-fab sections are hollow, so cables and utility pipes can easily be fitted inside
- This road type is 70% quicker to install than traditional asphalt roads.
- The path is designed to drain off rainwater.
- And of course, it’s a great way of getting rid of plastic waste!
Problems With Plastic Roads
We don’t know the issues yet as they’re a new concept, but it is a possibility that small particles of the plastic could find their way into the living environment due to heat, wear and run-off.
But then again, the same could be said of the plastic littering our roads, beaches and oceans.
The path’s inventors, Anne Koudstaal and Simon Jorritsma, said: “This first pilot is a big step towards a sustainable and future-proof road made of recycled plastic waste. When we invented the concept, we didn’t know how to build a plastic road, now we know.”
What’s The Problem With Existing Roads?
Many existing roads work fine, but the problems with them lie in their manufacture and their emissions.
- Asphalt concrete (and previously, tarmac) is made from stone (a non-renewable resource) and bitumen (from petroleum, a fossil fuel).
- Asphalt concrete is responsible for 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, equivalent to 2% of global road transport emissions. That’s lousy for climate change.
Why Don’t We Just Recycle Plastic?
We could, but that takes resources and energy, and then it’s made into…. another plastic product. Using plastic for roads gets rid of waste and produces something everyone can use.
In addition, in order to meet targets set in the Paris Agreement on climate change, all countries need to reduce plastic waste.
Together with solar roads, I think this a great way of creating better road infrastructure!
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What do you think about plastic roads? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your free green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here.
Related:
- Rewards for Going Green – do they work? Would YOU be more encouraged?
- Get rid of all the toxic products in your life (you’ll be shocked at where they hide!). It’s easy – see how here!
