The Hume City Council in Melbourne’s north has taken the initiative to repurpose plastic and glass diverted from landfills in road construction.
Working in collaboration with infrastructure company Downer as well as resource recovery and recycling companies, Close the Loop and RED Group, the Council has begun a project to build a 300m stretch of road using 200,000 plastic bags, packaging material, and 63,000 glass bottles.
The recycled plastic road trial aims to showcase the value that can be created from repurposing waste materials into new applications, according to a Downer spokesperson.
Roads made from plastic waste are not only sustainable but also improve fatigue life by 65 percent while displaying excellent resistance to deformation; these qualities will not only help increase the durability and lifespan of the road but also allow it to better handle heavy vehicular traffic.
In other examples of repurposing waste material into roads, toner from used printer cartridges and recycled asphalt were repurposed to create 250 tonnes of asphalt for a new road around Rayfield Avenue, Craigieburn.
