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Plastic Roads Could Reduce Pot Holes, Reduce Landfill Waste

MacReburMacRebur

There’s no shortage of company’s trying to improve the world’s roadways.  Asphalt and concrete each have their own disadvantages, especially when maintenance environmental factors are taken into consideration. Plastic is a major problem for landfills, as well, as it can take an estimated 500 years to fully decompose.  One UK company believes they can solve both maintenance and environmental problems through the use of recycled plastic.

MacRebur was founded by Toby McCartney, who was inspired after helping a charity in Southern India sort through a landfill to find reusable items.  Some of the plastics found were placed into pot holes around India and lit on fire to help patch the hole.  Knowing that lighting plastic on fire was not a viable solution in many areas, McCartney teamed up with two of his friends to develop a product now known as MR6.

MR6 is an asphalt additive that not only reduces the amount of bitumen needed in the mix, but also increases the tensile strength the pavement. Made from 100% waste materials, MR6 comes in pellet form to make it easy to mix into the asphalt. Company states that, besides increasing the tensile strength, it also improves cohesion/adhesion, improves fuel resistance, helps to resist deformation and rutting, increases resistance to cracking and fatigue failure, and lengthens the lifespan of the road. Initial tests have shown that this additive can outperform standard British asphalt by 60%.

The product was the winner of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Voom 2016, a prestigious small business competition, winning the company about $65,000 (50,000 British pounds).  MacRebur also raised over $1.7 million (1,316,120 pounds) on the crowdfunding site, Seedrs.  They have also secured agreements with international asphalt producers Tarmac, Cemex, and Aggregate Industries. 

The team has been working with city councils across the UK to trial their additive in new roads.  In November of 2016, MR6 was used to resurface a runway at Carlisle City Airport in Cumbria, England. 

Check out the video below for more information on the pavement:

One of the most challenging issues with modular construction, of any kind, is the sheer size and weight of many of the components that need to be transported and lifted in place once onsite. That presents a specifically tough situation for jobsites that are not easy to get to.  Arup, a design, engineering, and consulting team in the United Kingdom, has developed and successfully implemented what they say is the “world’s first modular glass-fiber, reinforced polymer bridge.” You may remember Arup from their testing of a “living wall” scaffolding cover that we wrote about last year.

Maybe I’ve had my head in the sand for a while (forgive the pun right out of the gate), but I’ve recently found out that the world is suffering from a shortage of sand.  The New York Times reports that the increasing demand of sand from manufacturing and construction in combination with rising sea levels and human development of shores is reaching crisis levels.  Sand is used in plenty of construction activities, from mortar to concrete to brick and asphalt.  We use a LOT of it.  In fact, concrete production takes a whopping 80 percent of all the sand that is mined. So what can we do?  One company says the answer is to drink more beer.

Solar roofs are an obviously popular choice for those interested in conserving energy, but traditional panels are extremely clunky and expensive.  Tesla and CEO Elon Musk announced last year that they have solved that issue, which the impending release of Tesla Solar Roof, which look like a traditional roof shingle.

3D printing technology faces major issues when it is required to leave the shelter of a warehouse and step foot on a construction job site.  3D printers are extremely large, heavy, and rely on precise calibration for accuracy.  Even the first 3D printed office building in Dubai, which was completed last year, had to actually have its components printed off site and assembled on site. But, Apis Cor, a 3D printing company, believes it has created the technology to print a full structure completely on site.

The concept of solar roadways has been in the news a lot recently.  Using the millions of miles of roadways throughout the world to also create power seems like a no brainer, the asphalt and concrete we’re using now aren’t really accomplishing anything more than handling the traffic on the road. But, there’s also a very strong reason why those products are used: they’re strong, reliable, and relatively durable.  Still, many researchers believe there is a lot of unharnessed potential for roads and the world now has a very strong test subject for the future of solar roadways in Tourouvre-au-Perche, France.