Recycling Plastic into Roads to Reduce the Landfill Crisis
Mohammed S Ahmed, Justin Ramdeo, Tahsin Rahman
The City College of New York
New York, United States
Summary
Non-biodegradable items such as plastics have polluted our landfills, oceans, and grasslands around the world; this type of waste is referred to as plastic garbage. The accumulation of plastic objects in the Earth’s environment has an effect on animals, wildlife habitats, and humans. Humans waste approximately 185 pounds of plastic every year. Our goal is to discover a solution to the problem of the ever-growing issue of plastic pollution. Our team decided to answer this call by turning the plastic that is lying around and going to waste and creating a simple yet innovative way of reusing this plastic. By utilizing plastic trash collected around the country, the plastic is crushed and ground into a fine grain substance, which is then mixed with a glue-like ingredient and applied to road molds. Some examples of these molds can be seen in countries such as South Africa, Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States. So, all in all, our group is finding another way of utilizing plastic waste by creating roads made of said plastic waste.
Table of Content
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………3
Project Description ……………………………………………………………………………… 5
Budget ……………………………………………………………………………………………6
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………9
References ………………………………………………………………………………………10
Introduction
Our group intended to address the ever-increasing pollution/landfill problem caused by the massive amounts of plastic waste thrown away each year. 90% of plastic is non-recyclable, it ends up in landfills, oceans, and grasslands. Since plastic it is non-biodegradable, it will remain in place for many years. This, combined with the fact that ocean life is being significantly harmed, led us to design a more innovative alternative.
Have you ever drank out of a plastic bottle and then thrown it out? Well many if not all of us have done something similar to this with no regard as to where it might end up. Well, chances are there’s a significantly high likelihood that it’ll end up in a landfill or the ocean. This accumulation of plastic objects in the Earth’s environment can have a detrimental impact on humans, animals, as well as wildlife habitats. Plastic waste, often known as plastic pollution, has become an issue for our environment, and recycling alone may not be enough to address it. This is why our group has decided to tackle this issue. Every year, we discard an estimated eight million tons of plastic debris into the ocean. That’s the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute! From bottles, plastic bags, straws, plastic wraps, and even regular coffee cups, we are just surrounded by plastic waste. We have made some progress with regard to minimizing our plastic waste disposal. We have reduced the usage of plastic shopping bags and replaced them with reusable or paper bags. This alone will not be enough to prevent the growth of plastic garbage. Recycling has not made a drastic impact in the reduction of plastic waste, which is why we as a group would like to recycle plastic waste to build roads which can lead to a more sustainable future and aid the ecosystem we inhabit.
Plastic rubbish harms our environment and her ecosystems in various ways. For example, plastic as well as the substances connected with it are infiltrating our oceans and waterways, polluting and wreaking havoc on humans and wildlife. When plastic waste is disposed of in landfills, it can leave toxic components in the ground and water making it hazardous for animals to be near. Every year, millions of wildlife are killed by plastic; including birds, fish, and other marine life organisms. Not to mention, floating plastic debris can live in water for thousands of years, creating long-term effects. One such example of this is the various pictures and videos of sea turtles unable to breathe because of plastic straws (and other waste) carelessly thrown into the ocean. We as a society are aware of these issues, but our ways of dealing with them are not up to par, therefore, we need to come up with better techniques for reducing plastic consumption and recycling plastic. One solution we may offer is to use plastic garbage to build roadways.
Our group decided that since plastic waste is mostly non-biodegratable, why don’t we use it to create something that we will always need? Since society is growing, the infrastructure is growing along with it, which is where roads come into play. There are many advantages of turning plastic into roads. Since we are already aware that plastic waste can take a very long time to decompose, we can use it to our advantage by building more durable and longer-lasting roads with it. This process will benefit our environment. To start off, we would generate less greenhouse gas emissions by replacing nearly 10 percent of bitumen that would be used in road asphalt. These roads would also have better wear resistance than standard asphalt concrete roads. These roads would not absorb water and have better flexibility. They would also allow the roads to remain smoother and absorb sound better. This would also minimize the plastic in landfills, oceans, and rivers. Not to mention this method is a lot cheaper than using asphalt. There are however, many concerns about how this method would spread microplastics and pollute the air. This is not a concern however because during the breakdown process the plastic will not be giving off fumes or microbes into the air and will be in a controlled enviorment. Once the plastics are collected, we would send it to a factory to be grinded into a fine powder then mixed with a special glue to then become a fine paste. After this paste is created, we would pour the mix into the road mold. Once the mixture is poured into the mold, it is then ready to be layed out.
Project Description
Our team decided to come up with a more innovative solution to our country’s expanding landfill and pollution concerns. After conducting some thorough analysis, we discovered that 6.3 billion tons of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic generated end up as plastic garbage. That’s an 822,000 Eiffel Towers combined! Despite some improvements, such as increased recycling and the banning of plastic bags from many retailers across the United States, the problem is not going away. This brings us to our team’s solution: converting the plastic that is lying around and creating that trash into roadways. While this idea may seem a bit far-fetched, it actually has been implemented in some countries around the world and conceptions are spreading about this technology. MacRebur, which is a Scottish firm, has developed the technology to turn plastic into roads. Essentially, hard to reuse plastic, such as bottles, plastic bags, and miscellaneous plastic bits and pieces are heavily ground up and made into a dust-like material (shown on the right). This is then mixed with a glue-like material for added strength and integrity and is then mixed and added to road molds. Applications of this plastic road could be literally any place where roads are needed. This includes parking lots, driveways, highways, and even park walkways.
Budget
For hypothetical 5ft x 1/2mi of road
| Item | Quantity | Potential Source | Price by quantity | Total price |
| Plastic | 266 lb | Recycling bins | $ 0.00 | $0.00 |
| Water | 150 gal | Crystal Geyser Water (1 gal), from instacart.com | $ 2.13 [w/potential tax] | $319.50 |
| Metal tub for holding and mixing | 3 | Heavy Duty Steel Sloped Mortar Tub (10 ft3) from globalindustrial.com | $501.00 [w/potential shipping] | $1503.00 |
| Heater | 6 | DeWalt Portable (135,000 BTU) kerosene space heater from maxtool.com | $413.71 [w/ tax] | $2482.26 |
| Kerosene | 252 gal | Klean-Strip Kerosene heater fuel from lowes.com | $13.48 [w/potential tax] | $3396.96 |
| Plastic Shredder | 1 | Oem Shredder Plastic machinery (pc250) from alibaba.com | $960.00 [w/potential shipping] | $960.00 |
| Mixing paddles | 6 | 60” Stainless Steel Paddle from webstaurantstor.com | $18.00 [w/potential shipping] | $108.00 |
| Adhesive to mix in | 32 gal | Industrial Coating Road Marker Epoxy resin (1gal) and catalyst (1gal) from signago.com | $155.00 [w/potential tax] | $2480.00 |
| Workers | 36 | Working for roughly 248.5 hrs in total | $ 21.00/h | $187,866.00 |
| Digital Temperature Reader | 2 | ThermoPro TP30 Digital Infrared Thermometer Gun, from bythermopro.com | $ 25.99 [w/potential shipping and tax] | $51.98 |
| Bitumen (asphalt) | 114 lb | Road Rescue 50lb Asphalt Repair, from Home Depot Pro | $ 33.79 [w/potential shipping and tax] | $ 101.37 |
| Total | ———- | ———- | ———- | $199,269.07 |
*Proposed Amount: $239,122.88
*note variation between Proposed amount and the total amount is to account for rounding and additional funds just in case.
Schedule:
| Step | Approximate Time* | Date Completed |
| Washing and shredding plastic | 88 hrs | ———- |
| Melting plastic | 53.5 hrs | ———- |
| Adding adhesive | 10 hrs | ———- |
| Mixing in Bitumen | 35 hrs | ———- |
| Clearing area | 31 hrs. | ———- |
| Paving Road | 28 hrs. | ———- |
*note this is an overestimation to account for any variation and or minor problems encountered throughout
Conclusion: With advocates and critics on both sides, it is difficult to convincingly arrive at a conclusion on this new technological solution. Unless there is another set of innovations to address the challenges outlined by critics, it is not going to be an easy path ahead for plastic roads. Only the future can answer whether plastic roads are actually a solution for one of the world’s leading environmental threats today. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced an investment of up to $14.5 million for research and development to cut waste and reduce the energy used to recycle single-use plastics like plastic bags, wraps, and films. This funding directed toward plastics recycling technologies advances the DOE’s work to address the challenges of plastic waste recycling and support the Biden Administration’s efforts to build a clean energy economy and ensure the U.S. reaches net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
References (all)
1. Renne Cho,”What Happens to All That Plastic? ,”ECOLOGY, ENERGY JANUARY 31, 2012[online]
Available: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2012/01/31/what-happens-to-all-that-plastic/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution [Accessed:14th April, 2022]
2. Brian Hutchinson,”7 Solutions to Ocean Plastic Pollution, “ Blue Habits Tips, Resources-24 February,2022 [Online]
Available:https://www.oceanicsociety.org/resources/7-ways-to-reduce-ocean-plastic-pollution-today/ [Accessed:14th April, 2022]
3.Charmaine Lee, “Could plastic roads make for a smoother ride?,“ FUTURE PLANET-2nd March, 2021[Online]
Available:https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210302-could-plastic-roads-make-for-a-smoother-ride [Accessed:14th April, 2022]
4. James Hataway,”More than 8.3 billion tons of plastics made: Most has now been discarded,“ University of Georgia-19 July,2017 [Online ]
Available: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170719140939.htm [Accessed:14th April, 2022]
5. Admin,”Recycling: A Component of Strong Community Development,“ US Environmental Protection Agency – 21st February,2016 [Online]Available: https://archive.epa.gov/region4/rcra/mgtoolkit/web/html/community.html [Accessed:14th April, 2022]
