Have you ever heard of plastic roads? Well, that’s what The Netherlands have recently installed across multiple cities, making it the first country to utilise recycled single-use plastic to make Smart Roads.
The world produces approximately 300 billion tonnes of plastic each year worldwide, with half of that being single-use items. That’s nearly the same weight as the entire human population! CirculinQ (formerly known as PlasticRoad) builds sustainable roads using post-consumer plastic, reducing plastic pollution along the way.
The Netherlands are pioneers of sustainable development, being famous for its heavy use of bicycles, promoting less pollution, clean air, and daily exercise. Therefore, in September 2018, Zwolle, a city west of Amsterdam, opened a 30-meter bike path to the public, made entirely of recycled plastic!
The CirculinQ bike path included data-gathering sensors which provided information for further development, space for services to run underneath, and its own stormwater management system.
The Smart Roads are installed in a LEGO-like fashion leading to faster construction, less maintenance time and are considerably less expensive. The roads are 4 times lighter than traditional road structures as well as being higher quality and have a lifespan 2 – 3 times longer than conventional road paving!
At Team Midmer we are always looking for innovative development and we hope these Smart Roads come to the UK soon!
Let us know what you think in the comments.
www.midmer.co.uk | 07791 294726 | info@midmer.co.uk
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