‘Plastic road’ project a bid to solve repairs backlog
KOUGA Municipality in the Eastern Cape will embark on a journey to build the first “plastic road” in Africa.
The approach is said to spell the end of potholes, create jobs and also help save the planet.
It is estimated that up to 1.8 million plastic bags can be used in a 1km stretch of road.
The first phase of implementation will take place in about a month’s time when a large amount of waste plastic is expected to be imported from Scotland and will be used in the first pilot project.
The trial will make use of 1.8 tons of non-recyclable plastic per kilometre and will include a complete reconstruction of Woltemade and Koraal Street in Jeffreys Bay.
“Plastic Road” refers to replacing significant amount of the bitumen mix (made from Crude oil) with waste plastic. It has been done in Bahrain, Australia, Canada, the US, Saudi Arabia and the UK.
In the Eastern Cape, there is an estimated R105-billion backlog in road maintenance.
According to the municipality, roads contain bitumen, which is made from crude oil which is a very expensive commodity and is linked to the fluctuating oil price.
The project was launched at Jeffreys Bay on Monday.
Kouga Municipality mayor Horatio Hendricks said the local authority would partnering with a Scottish company and South African civil engineering experts to build the first “plastic road” in Africa.
“The backlog in road repairs for our region is estimated to be more than R500m. While Kouga is strong financially, we simply do not have the rates base to deal with this backlog decisively,” said Hendricks.
“The Kouga Council has, therefore, been looking for innovative ways to slay this giant.”
He said should the trial be successful, the municipality would like to see a factory being established in Kouga to produce the pellets locally.
Hendricks said the trial would be done at no cost to the municipality, with the respective partners set to foot the bill. Vicky Knoetze, a member of the Eastern Cape Legislature, was the first who introduced the idea of solving some of South Africa’s problems through plastic roads to the provincial legislature in 2017.
“I am delighted with the outcome and that Kouga has agreed to become the first municipality in South Africa and the continent to put the technology to the test,” said Knoetze.
“Essentially we will be doing what we have done for years and will be doing till the end of days, which is building roads – just in a much more efficient and effective way.”