Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: They're not used shoes, they're 'refurbished'
      Kickstart: Holy guacamole, science is cool
      Kickstart: Coffee with a splash of sustainability
      Kickstart: Live, from Shenzhen, it's an in-person trade show
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Annual PN LSR directory grows
      Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • Machine builders press through pandemic with innovations
      PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Video: Structural foam molding
      Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 15, 2018 02:00 AM

Bags, bottles being transformed into roadways

Kate Tilley
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Downer EDI Ltd.
    Workers for Downer EDI Ltd. pave a section of roadway in suburban Melbourne with a mix that includes recycled bags and toner from ink cartridges.

    Melbourne, Australia — The future may be paved with recycled plastics.

    At least three projects around the world — in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands — are putting down pavement made using recycled plastics in place of virgin asphalt.

    In Australia, Downer EDI Ltd. has used soft plastics such as bags along with the toner from used printer cartridges, glass and recycled asphalt in a 1,400-foot section of roadway in a Melbourne suburb.

    In New Zealand, Fulton Hogan paved part of Christchurch International Airport's fire station with an asphalt mix that includes, 3,100 4-liter plastic oil containers.

    And the Dutch community of Zwolle, the PlasticRoad project will begin by using recycled plastics for two pilot projects made up of 30-meter long bicycle paths made of hollow prefabricated elements enabling water drainage and laying down of cables and pipes.

    The PlasticRoad concept was launched in 2015 by market leader in road construction KWS, a subsidiary of Royal VolkerWessels. The specific locations have not been named yet.

    In Australia, the suburban roadway in Craigieburn uses 200,000 plastic bags and other soft plastic packaging; 63,000 glass bottles; toner from more than 4,500 used printer cartridges; and 50 metric tons of recycled asphalt to create 250 metric tons to create what Downer EDI is currently calling "Plastiphalt."

    Dante Cremasco, Downer's executive general manager for its Melbourne-based road services division, told Plastics News the company has applied for a trademark for Plastiphalt, but may need to vary the name if it exists elsewhere.

    Downer scientists have been working on its product for "several years" to get the optimum mix of recyclables, but the National Sword program in China, which cut off many waste plastic imports, accelerated the process because it means more waste plastic is being stockpiled in Australia and recycling costs have increased.

    Downer has partnered with two resource recovery and recycling companies, Melbourne-based international entity Close the Loop Pty. Ltd., which provides the recycled toner cartridges; and Melbourne-based REDcycle Pty. Ltd., which collects post-consumer soft plastic, unsuitable for council-operated curbside recycling programs, via collection points located outside Australia's major supermarket chains' stores.

    Downer EDI Ltd.

    The Australian "Plastiphalt" project uses 200,000 plastic bags and other soft plastic packaging.

    Cremasco said Close the Loop approached Downer "some years ago" about recycling toner from used cartridges and Downer initially developed road-building products Tonerpave and Tonerseal, which include toner polymers, and "99 percent asphalt," which has only 1 percent virgin material, using toner, old tires, glass and other recycled resources.

    Those products have been in use for low traffic volume roads for about five years, Cremasco said.

    Close the Loop said recycled toner from printer cartridges is well suited to asphalt because toner powder predominantly consists of small particles of high-grade engineering plastics. The same plastics are commonly used to modify bituminous binders for asphalt roads.

    Cremasco said Downer's new Plastiphalt, which also adds plastics from bags, is "better than straight-run virgin asphalt" because of the polymers from the soft plastic and toner.

    "In service, it doesn't look or feel any different, but will last longer," he said. "We have done lab tests and pre-production tests with slabs to confirm how the product responds to heat, moisture and fatigue."

    Plastiphalt is equivalent to premium asphalt, so it is less prone to cracking and fatigue and suitable for roadways bearing heavy traffic and high-weight vehicles.

    Cremasco said once more tests are conducted with Plastiphalt he hopes local councils and governments will specify the product. "They are paying more to process recyclables and need a proven solution," he said.

    "It's a big market. We would need to ramp up for national production, which will take time, and modify production facilities for these additives. "We need to solve some logistical issues."

    For example, the production plant currently can only manufacture 150 metric tons of Plastiphalt an hour, compared to 300 metric tons of traditional virgin material asphalt.

    "We did the demonstration [road at Craigieburn] to show we have a solution to the problem. When [potential customers] are ready, we can get all our ducks in a row to ramp up for commercial production," he said.

    "This sustainable, cost-competitive road has a 65 percent improvement in fatigue life and a superior resistance to deformation, making the road last longer, and allowing it to better handle heavy vehicle traffic," Cremasco said.

    While Downer's Plastiphalt is on the road, it may have competition from a very similarly-named program in New Zeland.

    Christchurch-based Fulton Hogan (FH) developed its product called PlastiPhalt, and registered the trademark in New Zealand. In April, it tested the materials by paving part of Christchurch International Airport's fire station with 250 metric tons of the product. The asphalt mix included 3,100 4-liter plastic oil containers, collected by FH from garages as part of an oil recycling program.

    FH environmental and sustainability manager Sophie Kennedy said the containers previously went to landfill because oil contamination means they cannot be recycled. She said FH started PlastiPhalt lab trials in 2014. It shreds the containers, granulates the shreds, and incorporates them into the pavement.

    Plastics News Europe contributed to this report.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions