A Road in Northwest England Made From Recycled Plastic by MacRebur
Geschreven op 21-6-2017 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Niet gecategoriseerd
The Scotland-based start-up MacRebur has come up with a new way to make use of the thousand tons of plastic waste that we produce: to create cheap but yet 60% stronger and 10 times longer-lasting roads in comparison to normal asphalt-based ones.
The engineer Toby McCartney was inspired to design and create plastic roads after spending time in India. There, he witnessed first-hand the severe problem of plastic pollution but also came across an interesting concept: he saw locals fixing holes in the road by putting plastic waste into them and then burning it in order for it to melt. When he returned home, he created MacRebur together with friends Nick Burnett and Gordon Reid, and his own driveway was the first plastic road they constructed.
The recycled plastic (coming from household and commercial waste as well as farm waste) is turned into small pellets of waste plastic, the so-called MR6 pellets, for which MacRebur has a UK and EU patent. These pellets, which are then mixed with other road-making materials like rock, sand, and limestone, largely replace traditional oil-based bitumen that is used to bind roads together.
In 2016, MacRebur beat 10,000 other companies in Virgin’s Voom competition and secured £1 Million and praise from Virgin founder Richard Branson, while last February, the company successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign via the Seedrs platform. They managed to raise more than £1.2 Million in funds for a global sales drive, when the initial target was £590,000.
For the time being, the roads are being put down in Cumbria County and Dumfriesshire, in northwest England, as well as on a runway at Carlisle Airport. MacRebur, aiming for a 0.25% share of the global asphalt market, is currently targeting Australia, South America, Africa and Europe.
Fietspad in Lab op Straat met 100% Gerecycled HERA Asfalt by KWS Infra van VolkerWessels – PlasticRoad by KWS Infra van VolkerWessels: De Duurzame Weg van Gerecycled Plastic – Tweelaags Zeer Open Asfalt Beton (ZOAB) van Hergebruikt Asfalt by KWS Infra van VolkerWessels
Tags: Hergebruik-Kringloop
Erik van Erne zegt:
21 juni 2017 om 12:18 | Permalink
Can plastic roads help save the planet? by BBC News
Engineer Toby McCartney explains how his Scottish start-up MacRebur is persuading councils to use local waste plastic to build roads. Two English councils have already started building roads this way. A smartphone film for BBC World Hacks by Dougal Shaw.
Erik van Erne zegt:
27 juli 2017 om 13:29 | Permalink
Los Angeles is painting roads white to cool down the city