The use of recycled plastic as material for road construction.

Roads are in fashion, there’s no question about it. So is experimenting with them and
the materials they’re made of to make them sustainable.

On our I’mnovation website, we have previously written about roadways capable of

recharging the vehicles traveling over them, roads capable of generating their
own light, or solar roads capable of supplying energy to nearby towns.

This week we’ll discuss a further breakthrough: roads made of recycled plastic --just

as you read it.

Will it be possible to make use of solid residues to build communication routes

and to redeem waste in such an almost poetical fashion? It seems so. In fact, some UK
roads implementing this procedure are already operating.

35MR6, the name of sustainable tarmac

According to data, there are around 40 million kilometres build around the world, usually made
of rock pieces and sand mixed with bitumen, leading to the tarmac we all know. But the Scottish
company MacRebur has succeeded in developing a new kind of plastic capable of substituting
part of that mixture and, what is most important, it is made of 100% recyclable material.

This material, by the name of MR6, is not only remarkable for its innovative approach, but for its
tremendous sustainability, since it could become the final solution for much of the plastic waste
we generate.
The company claims that 10% of bitumen used in the manufacturing of conventional
tarmac can be removed and substituted by this recycled plastic mixture using their
technology. In addition, the resulting material is supposed to be up to 60% stronger, and its
useful life 10% longer than traditionally-build roads.

Tests are still being performed, but if everything goes according to schedule we could see these
roadways being implemented soon in many places across the UK, for now. Have you ever
thought that you could be one day traveling in your car over that shower gel bottle you used last
year? That moment is getting closer, so you should.