According to a song, “life in plastic, is fantastic” (know which song it is?), well, I guess that might be true soon, but not as a Barbie doll. Rather, it is the roads that our cars rolled on that could be plastic instead of the regular, environmentally unfriendly asphalt. That’s if VolkerWessels has their way. The Dutch construction company is exploring using recycled plastic bottles to create hollow plastic road. The plastic roads not only will save landfills from being piled with plastic wastes, but they are also resistant to corrosion and weather, can deal with extreme temperatures, and can last three times longer than its asphalt counterpart. All these will result in lesser road maintenance, which is often the culprit of traffic jams and detours that adds to the travelling time.
Furthermore, being modular and prefab, roads are installed as oppose to ‘constructing’ which would cut down construction time dramatically and the hollow structure can be used for cables, pipes and rainwater. At the moment, Plastic Road is still a concept, so don’t get too excited about driving on a real-life Hot Wheels track yet. VolkerWessels is anticipating three more of years of lab testing to address things like traction when wet before it can being it to life.
