Dow Chemical is one of the world’s largest plastic producers. In an effort to reduce their environmental impact, they have begun building roads out of recycled plastic as a way to minimize waste. While the roads still contain asphalt, they offer a practical purpose for a product that will most likely turn into litter otherwise. Since they started paving a couple of years ago, they have saved 220,000 pounds of waste from ending up in landfills.
They first launched several pilot programs to test the plastic roads in India and Indonesia because it was proving difficult to facilitate the recycling program in the US. US states have more restrictive requirements for new roads in comparison to Asia.
The company began in 2017 when they partnered with the Indonesian government to keep the country’s plastic waste from entering the ocean. The country desperately needed help as they were the world’s second-largest contributor to marine plastic pollution at the time.
That ranking prompted the nation to set a goal of reducing waste in the ocean by 70% by 2025. That’s when Dow stepped in offering technical advice on how to turn the country’s plastic into roads. The first plastic road trial in Depok used approximately 3.5 metric tons of plastic waste material.
Bambang Candra, a commercial vice president for the company’s Asia Pacific packaging branch, said:
“We are extremely pleased with the success of this project and what it promises. The technology behind these new plastics-based roads has proven simple enough for wide-scale application in Indonesia’s transport infrastructure. We are confident it will help manage the sheer volume of plastics waste the country produces.”
Once Dow Chemical got the ball rolling in Southeast Asia, they jumped over to India next. There they helped two cities – Bangalore and Pune – develop roads from more than 100 tons of recycled plastic. Then, their next stop after that was back to Southeast Asia – Thailand – the world’s sixth biggest contributor to ocean waste.
After the roads had proven to be successful time and time again, the company was able to start laying plastic roads in the USA. Dow has recently finished two new plastic roads in Freeport, Texas using 1,686 pounds of recycled low-density polyethylene plastic — which is the equivalent weight of about 120,000 plastic grocery bags.
Dow’s global sustainability leader, Jeff Wooster, told Business Insider:
“Right now we’re focused on using projects like this to increase awareness that plastic roads are a viable option.”
Advantages Of Plastic Roads Over Traditional Asphalt
- They reduce pollution.
- They are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 tons.
- They are more resistant to corrosion from weather or vehicles. They might reduce the cases of dangerous potholes or traffic jams because of this.
- They could last at least 50 years, around three times longer than conventional roads. (An estimate by Dutch construction company VolkerWessels)
- They could survive extremely hot or cold temperatures ranging from 176 degrees Fahrenheit to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. (Another estimate by Dutch construction company VolkerWessels)
Skeptics
Some environmentalists fear that heating plastic to make roads could release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere but the researchers who discovered the solution to combine plastic and asphalt recently claimed that it only poses harm at temperatures above 518 degrees Fahrenheit.
End Plastic Waste
To date, more than 26 miles (collectively) of recycled plastic pavement has been laid around the world by Dow, which has saved about 100 tons of waste from going to a landfill.
“Companies do not make plastics with the intent of it ending up in the ocean, and we acknowledge the strong role the industry must play in order to help eliminate ocean plastic waste by 2035.”
Dow has also become one of the founding companies of a new international nonprofit called the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. When they announced the founding of the alliance, the company said they would be committing $1 billion to end plastic pollution with the additional goal of raising another $1.5 billion over the course of the next five years.
