Plastic may be used to pave roads

THE Gold Coast City Council is considering making road surfaces out of recycled plastics in a bid to reduce the amount of rubbish dumped in the city.

Palm Beach councillor Daphne McDonald yesterday urged the Gold Coast City Council’s City Infrastructure division to investigate the cost and safety concerns of recycled plastic in road surfacing.

The technique is on trial in the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa.

“The information that I have is that apparently it bulks up bitumen with recycled waste plastic so that the roads are stronger and less of the oil product is required to bond it together,” Cr McDonald said.

“That is one way of getting rid of our plastics to landfill.”

To make a plastic road, household and commercial waste is transformed into pellets which in turn replace a majority of the bitumen in the asphalt mix used to surface a road.

UK-based manufacturers claim the road surface reduces the number of potholes, increases

the road life and can hold three times the load of regular asphalt.

Cr McDonald said she would like the council to investigate the trials in Britain to determine if it can be used here.

Helensvale councillor William Owen-Jones said guidelines needed to be set before council began adding plastic to the roads.

“I think we just need to be mindful that while it sounds like a cracking idea, (we need to know) what means,” he said.

“That is in regards for where we source the plastics and what it means for the longterm total life of the road.”

In July, the council was recognised as a leader in using recycling technologies for road surfaces, winning the Excellence in Recycling in Stabilised Pavements in Local Government at the Austab industry awards.

The gong was for reusing about 15 per cent of asphalt from old roads in asphalt mixes for new road surfaces, saving about $360,000 a year.

The council is also looking into using recycled tyres to help bulk up the road surface.

RACQ head of technology and safety policy Steve Spalding said as far as RACQ were aware, recycled plastic has not been used in any Queensland road surfaces yet.

But he supported the idea. “If you can get the positive environmental outcome without compromising road safety you may well find it’s a very good move,” he said.

The council expects to have completed a report into using plastics in road surfaces early next year. it actually