Could this be the answer to all the problems single-use plastic materials have brought?

The Linkwood Steadings Housing Development in Elgin, Scotland, a Scottish company, has turned more than 19 tons of non-recyclable plastic into small pellets and used them in constructing roads.

The company says that using plastic in road building actually makes the roads more durable than the traditional tarmac roads, and this is all because of how flexible plastic is.

The company who brought life to the invention, MacRebur, revealed how they came up with the unique idea.

On their website, MacRebur revealed the incredible story, it says, “Our CEO Toby McCartney was was working in Southern India with a charity helping people who work on landfill sites to gather potentially reusable items and sell them. He noticed that some of the waste plastics retrieved by the pickers was put into potholes and set alight until it melted to form a makeshift plastic pothole filler. It sparked an idea to use waste plastic in roads here.”

Their website also explains how they make pellets out of the plastic.

Their website says, “We take plastic waste collected from commercial and household use – the split is about 60 per cent commercial and 40 per cent household. We can use most types of plastic but it must be classed as waste – we don’t use recycled or new plastic.”

It added, “We then use a granulator to turn this into small pieces of no more than 5mm. Next, the plastic granules are mixed with our activator – it’s this that makes the plastic bind properly into our roads. Our activator is patented and what’s in it is a secret! This blend of plastic granules and the activator – let’s call it the MacRebur mix – then goes to an asphalt producer. We make sure that all the plastic we use melts at a temperature lower than this – around 120°C – so it homogenises properly without creating microplastics. It’s for this reason that we can’t use all plastic waste but we can use most things, including black plastic which is difficult recycle.”

Many believe that this could be the answer to all the problems plastic materials are causing.

The contracts manager of MacRebur, Sarah Lakin, said, “We are very proud to add Springfield to our growing list of clients and welcome them onboard as the first housebuilder in the UK to use waste plastic in their roads and we look forward to working with them again.

She added, “We also hope this pioneering project will inspire other developers in Scotland to follow Springfield’s lead as our product is available across the country as well as the UK and abroad.”