Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 12

plastics in construction

Installing a prefab element

➡ Continued from page 11
Total, too, came to the partnership
with a comprehensive knowledge of
plastic materials. The company develops, produces and markets polymers
that are used for packaging, automotive, construction, domestic and
medical equipment. Their portfolio
includes PE, PP and PS - materials
representing 60% of the global demand for plastic.
In 2015, the concept was presented and in September 2018, the first
pilot - a bicycle path - was installed

in Zwolle, Netherlands. A second pilot
was installed in November 2018 in
the Dutch village of Giethoorn.

Prefabricated construction
Made from prefabricated elements
based on recycled waste plastics,
PlasticRoad offers a sustainable
high-quality solution for road construction, say the partners.
The design is lightweight, to prevent soil settlement problems. The
system also has excellent drainage.
The extruded prefab elements are
easily and quickly installed, cutting

the time needed to construct the
road by months. All road surface
markings, guard rails and crash barriers are prefabricated with the plastic
road elements.
According to its builders, the PlasticRoad can be expected to last three
times longer than a traditionally built
road. Whether this is the case still remains to be proven in practice. The
pilot project will show what happens
in actual use.
The design also features a hollow
space that can be used for various
purposes, including water storage,
the transport of cables and pipes or
heating, to name but a few. It also
opens possibilities for further innovation. "Think, for example, of an energy-generating road or smart roads,"
said Anne Koudstaal.
The material is virtually impervious
to hot and cold weather conditions or
weeds and requires little to no maintenance, say KWS and Wavin.
"We expect the PlasticRoad to behave well in different weather conditions. And in rainy conditions, it is the
perfect solution because of the hollow space. Water can be drained into
this hollow space and slowly be infiltrated in the ground," said Marcel
Jager.

Circularity
The idea behind the concept is for the
PlasticRoad to be made from as much
recycled waste plastic as possible, diverting this from landfill or incineration, and reducing the carbon footprint of the road itself.
In this way, waste plastic becomes
a valuable resource that is kept in the
loop rather than being allowed to

The PlasticRoad in use

july/august 2019

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