Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 11

plastics in construction

Driving change
with plastic
Plastics have long been used in the building industry. Roads, however, are a novel application
and offer a new option to use plastic waste. Two pilot projects have been installed in the
Netherlands to test the concept. Plastics News Europe contacted two of the partnering
companies behind the project - Wavin and KWS - to find out more. By Karen Laird

he idea for using plastic to build
roads originated from KWS, the
market leader in road construction and asphalt production in the
Netherlands. KWS is an all-round
contractor who is active in the construction of both large, complex and
multidisciplinary (infrastructure) projects and small-scale projects for local
authorities and individual customers.
KWS partnered with Wavin and Total
to realise the pilots.

From challenge to
concept
The idea developed from looking at
the problems facing municipalities,
provinces and water boards and contractors today. From plastic waste,
the ever-increasing mobility needs
and an overcrowded surface to extreme precipitation loads and the settling of the subsoil, these are all issues that need to be addressed. At
the same time, increasingly stiff requirements apply to roads and roadbuilding.
For contractors, asphalt is a great
product for road construction. "However, more and more, our clients are
demanding enhanced functionality
from roads, which raises the question
of whether traditional asphalt will be
able to meet the increasingly stringent requirements being imposed.
Today, customers are looking for a

july/august 2019

sustainable product with a longer
lifespan and shorter construction and
maintenance time. They also want
low-noise road surfaces, plus it has to
be financially competitive. Analysing
what it takes to fulfil these requirements, the idea of the PlasticRoad
was born," said Anne Koudstaal,
business development manager at
KWS and inventor of the PlasticRoad.

From concept to pilot
Realising that a road built from plastic
could offer a solution for a number of
challenges, KWS believed in the concept from the start. However, a good
idea is one thing, but developing a pilot is another matter altogether. This
led the company to look for companies who would be willing to partner
on the project. Ultimately it went
ahead with Wavin and Total, both of
whom saw the potential of the idea
and had faith in the concept. In addition, for all three companies, the sustainable development of public spaces
was a stated ambition and the PlasticRoad fit seamlessly into this.
"At KWS, we continuously work
on making our own products and
business processes more sustainable.
In 2040 we want to be completely
CO2 neutral and 100% circular as
KWS. As market leader, we believe
that we should set a good example.
The reuse of asphalt is a big theme

within KWS. We apply ever higher percentages of recycled asphalt in the
roads we build," said Anne Koudstaal.
For Wavin, participating in and
contributing to the development of
the PlasticRoad tracked with Wavin's
strategy to provide innovative and
sustainable plastic solutions for the
built environment. "It is a great opportunity to develop a new and more
sustainable way of building roads -
together with other market leaders in
this business," said Marcel Jager, project manager PlasticRoad at Wavin.
Each partner had a well-defined
role. KWS chose to partner up with
Wavin because that company responded directly on hearing that KWS
was looking for partners to develop
the concept. Important for this project, Wavin could also contribute a
vast amount of knowledge, expertise
and experience of plastics, in terms of
material science - how to improve the
properties of a material - as well as
regarding plastics recycling and the
production technologies available.
Wavin is the leading producer of plastic pipe systems in Europe and has
long used recycled materials in the
production of their products. The
company's experience in making plastic products for rainwater drainage
also proved invaluable.

➡ Continued on page 12

Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019

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