A Road Made from Plastic Bags

All around the world, people are using plastic bags for their shopping. They are convenient little things, they are cheap and light. You go to the supermarket, you pick up a few items and when you get to the checkout you simply grab a few plastic bags, and put your shopping in. Then you simply carry them home or place them in your car. When you get home you unpack your groceries. But what happens to the plastic bags? They were cheap or often even free, so you don’t think much about it when you throw them into your bin.

^{Image by Close the Loop}

There is a downside to this. All the plastic bags that we are using around the world a filling up our landfill sites. Plastic bags don’t decompose and they will stay in the landfill for a very, very long time. Or even worse. Many plastic bags somehow make their way into the world’s oceans.

A company in Melbourne, Australia has come up with a solution to the problem. The managed to develop an additive for road surfaces made from plastic bags, old printer cartridges and broken glass bottles. The additive can withstand high temperatures and is very durable.

The additive is used instead of oil that is usually used in road surfaces. Using the recycled material thus has two advantages. It reduces the need for oil in road construction and also reduces landfill.

The city of Melbourne has now paved a 300-metre stretch of road, on Rayfield Avenue in Craigieburn, about 35 kilometres north of Melbourne.

The company behind this project is Close the Loop, a business specialising in recycling toner cartridges. The Chief Operating Officer of Downer Infrastructure East Sergio Cinerari says ”While it is early days the results are very encouraging. We are pleased to be working with Close the Loop.”

Australia is not the first country to experiment with recycled road surfaces. The UK has also tested a road surface made from recycled plastic last year. And even before that, Vancouver, Canada claims to be the first city in the world to take to recycled road surfaces.

Does this mean that we can now all use plastic bags with a clear conscience? I don’t think so. The amount of plastic bags we are using around the world is huge. And recycling plastic in this way will always be a partial solution only. There are simply not that many roads to pave. The most important thing to remember is that plastic bags are not really necessary at all. A simple change of behaviour can avoid most plastic bags. Simply remember to take a reusable bag with you next time you go shopping.

Many countries in Europe and around the world are encouraging people to use reusable bags. Some are forcing supermarkets to charge a fee for every plastic bags, others are considering banning single-use plastic bags altogether.