An RMIT University-led project sees new roads mixed with recycled plastics at ten sites across Victoria. Experts say the move will demonstrate a viable circular-economy solution to the nation.
The RMIT University-led project – supported by the Australian Research Council, Austroads and ten Victorian councils – will incorporate recycled plastic from consumer and industrial waste, including soft plastics, into asphalt.
With Australians generating 2.6 million tonnes of plastic waste each year and landfill space expected to reach capacity by 2025, RMIT says this project is helping to address an urgent challenge.
Project lead, RMIT Associate Professor Filippo Giustozzi, said the team will also produce best-practice guidelines on the use of recycled plastics in asphalt roads.
“These guidelines will enable local governments, which control 80 per cent of the nation’s roads, to begin widescale adoption of this innovative recycling solution,” said Giustozzi, from RMIT’s School of Engineering.
The project will take place in the City of Melbourne and nine suburban and regional councils, each having sections of recycled road up to 900 metres long paved over coming months.
This project will use an estimated 21,000 kg of recycled plastic, but the research team say the potential scale of this solution is considerable given the several hundred thousand kilometres of roads across Australia.
PKN has previously covered similar projects carried out by Closed Loop Environmental Solutions in New South Wales.
