ELGIN, SCOTLAND — Springfield Properties, a housing development company, and MacRebur, a company that uses plastic waste to surface roads, have teamed up to build a road out of plastic waste in Scotland, according to a report in the BBC.<br /><br />MacRebur has patented a process in which plastic waste is turned into granules and then mixed with a special "activator" that allows the granules to bind together.<br /><br />Asphalt producers can use the resulting product as a substitute for a portion of the bitumen in an asphalt mix.<br /><br />Springfield Properties says that for every tonne of bitumen, a form of petroleum, that is replaced, the carbon footprint of the road surfacing is reduced by a tonne of carbon dioxide.<br /><br />The company said in a news release that these "plastic" roads are up to 60 percent stronger than roads that are currently in use, which will reduce road maintenance costs.<br /><br />The company claims it is the first house builder in the UK to use waste plastic to build a road on a housing development. The company plans to surface more roads with plastic waste across Scotland.
