Chemical company has found a way to make super strong asphalt from plastic bottles

According to the National Geographic Society, annually 9 million tons of plastic falls into the ocean. At the
same time, only 9.5% of plastic waste is recycled in the world. The scale of pollution is so high that the
ecological community speaks of a crisis. To help the planet, the large chemical company Dow Chemical
decided to use plastic waste for road construction.

There are entire garbage islands in the ocean, the most famous of which is the Pacific Garbage Pig, or the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Fish and other ocean inhabitants often take plastic waste as food: researchers
find lids, lighters and other small items in the stomachs of animals and birds.

Some types of garbage emit substances that react with water and poison it. According to studies, China,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more plastic waste into the ocean than the rest of
the world.

Dow Chemical is not indifferent to ocean pollution. Therefore, since 2017, the company cooperates with the
Indonesian government. The goal is to reduce the amount of garbage thrown into the ocean by 20% by
2025. The company's assistance is not typical, because the garbage is not just disposed of at special plants,
but participates in recycling - the process of returning waste to the production cycle.

Dow specialists recycle waste and use this material to build roads. In addition to the obtained substance in
the composition of the roadway there are 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. The tests were carried out for
two months, after which the road was recognized as more solid and stable than the traditional ones.

The chemical company built roads in two Indian cities - Pune and Bangalore. Of the more than 100 tons of
recycled plastic (or 25 million packages), 40 km of new highways were obtained. Garbage is helped by
volunteers who transfer waste to local recyclers. Plastic in the new quality gets on asphalt plants, where it is
added to the asphalt mix.

Such roads are more durable than ordinary asphalt ones: they are much less susceptible to mechanical
destruction and corrosion. The roadbed comfortably transfers temperature from -40 ° C to +80 ° C. The
coating is wear-resistant, which means that the potholes will become smaller. In the future, it may even
reduce the number of accidents and traffic jams. Specialists from Dow Chemical are confident that the roads
from plastic bottles will last at least 50 years, while ordinary ones will last only about 16.

Skeptics worry that new roads may emit harmful substances, but for this to happen, the temperature must
reach +270 ° C. There is one more advantage: the emission of greenhouse gases in the production of roads
from plastic is 30 tons less, because 10% of bitumen in them is replaced by recycled plastic.

Plastic roads are already in the US, their construction is planned in Thailand. However, Dow Chemical
initiatives are not limited to this. Thus, the company's employees and their family members clean the
coastlines in their places of residence, participating in the new program.

The program is called #PullingOurWeight, its conditions are simple: each person must remove at least four
pounds of waste - so much on average, every inhabitant of the planet produces daily. By October last year,
40 thousand pounds of waste from beaches and waterways was removed by joint efforts.

In addition, Dow Chemical launched Project Butterfly, creating jobs in South African countries and helping to
combat pollution. The chemical company cooperates with government agencies, non-profit organizations
(including WILDTRUST), and the local community. The goal of the project is ambitious: to convey to people
that waste can be reused and viewed as a valuable resource.

The project creates new jobs, waste collection points and specialized teams involved in garbage collection.
Someone literally helped to survive, and in general - to clear the area from 2.6 million pounds of waste.