Plastic Roads | Plastic Pavement Pros & Cons | Buzz Mate | Engineer Ji

Plastic Roads | INDIA

• Plastic roads are roads made either entirely of plastic or of composites of plastic with other materials. 
• Plastic roads are different from standard roads in the respect that standard roads are made from asphalt concrete, which consists of mineral aggregates and asphalt. 
• Currently, there are no records of regular roads made purely of plastic. 
• Plastic composite roads, however, have existed and demonstrate characteristics superior to regular asphalt concrete roads; specifically, they show better wear resistance. 
• The implementation of plastics in roads also opens a new option for recycling post consumer plastics.

Pros of Plastic Roads | BUZZ Mate

• On the proposed model by Volkerwessels, plastic roads can have hollow space built in to allow ease of wiring, connecting pipes, etc
• Heating and power generation can be incorporated into plastic roads. Heating can prevent roads from freezing; it can also help evaporate water from the surface.
• Since plastics come with various chemical and physical properties, roads can be engineered to meet specific requirements (e.g. weather and wear resistance)
• Plastic roads can be made into interlocking pieces that can be quickly assembled or disassembled. This makes on-site construction much faster and convenient.
• Simplicity and speed of road work also correlates to lower cost.
• Plastic roads can be built from waste plastic --- the majority of which is usually put into landfill, incinerated, or polluted into the environment. Landfilling and incinerating plastic are both problematic methods of managing plastic waste. Plastics in landfills can leak pollutants into the surrounding soil; incinerating creates gaseous pollutants, such as carbon dioxide.
• Plastic-bitumen composite roads need not be especially discriminating with the plastics used, thus increasing the reuse of plastic. Most plastic waste is not recycled because it is usually mixed with different types of plastic and non-plastic (e.g. paper labels) and, so far, the segregation process is labor-intensive with no easy solution. 
• Using less asphalt saves on resources. Asphalt concrete requires petroleum which is becoming more scarce.
• The use of plastic in road construction reduces the amount of asphalt used. This is beneficial to the environment since asphalt is responsible for 2% of global carbon emissions.

Cons of Plastic Roads | BUZZ Mate

• Pure plastic road requires using compatible plastics because, when melted, plastics of different types may phase-separate and cause structural weaknesses, which can lead to premature failure.
• Wear and tear can create harmful plastic particulates which can worsen current microplastic pollution problem.

Source:Wikipedia