Plastic road firm refuels on Seedrs

THREE friends who had the idea to turn waste plastic into a revolutionary road surface are looking to raise £590,000 via crowdfunding platform Seedrs for a global sales drive.

Scottish start-up MacRebur beat 10,000 other companies to win last year’s Virgin Voom competition and secured £1million and praise from Virgin boss Richard Branson.

It launched in January 2016 and is already laid on roads in Cumbria and Dumfriesshire, as well as on a runway at Carlisle Airport.

The company’s patented product, called MR6, uses waste plastic as an alternative to bitumen to bind together the stone used when laying a road. Co-founder and chief executive Toby McCartney told Branson as part of the competition: ‘It finds a use for the millions of tons of waste plastic and it reduces the millions of pounds spent on road maintenance and pothole repair.

‘Our roads are 60 per cent stronger, longer lasting, do not pot hole and are cheaper.’

McCartney had the idea for MacRebur while in India, where he saw people dumping waste plastic in potholes and melting it down.

The business, aiming for a 0.25 per cent share of the global asphalt market, is targeting Australia and government representatives in South America, Africa and Europe.

In July last year two motions were raised in the Scottish Parliament praising MR6.