The recycled roads of the sea

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We are going to give you some horrendous information. We produce 20 times more plastic waste than we generated in the 1960s, and if you Google the term 'garbage islands', you will see a large area in the Pacific Ocean and another in the Atlantic covered with waste, mainly, again, plastics. According to current estimates, if things continue as they are, by 2050 there will be more tons of plastic in the seas than fish. In the Netherlands and India, they are developing a possible way to alleviate this problem.

In Rotterdam, a Dutch city known for its avant-garde architecture, the company VolkerWessels is innovating with a very interesting project that could revolutionize the way roads are built. Called PlasticRoad, it is an ecological option that can both help clean the sea and stop the use of cement. It must be clarified that for now it is an idea on paper, but it could materialize on roads in the coming years.

Given the great problem posed by this marine plastic waste, this company had an idea. What if they rescued plastic from the sea and, instead of burning it, recycled it? Why not create a kind of interlocking pieces, like a small child's toy, to make roads? This, in addition to cleaning the sea, would reduce the millions of tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere every time asphalt roads are built.

According to Rolf Mars, one of the company's spokesmen, in an interview published in The Guardian, these roadways could withstand temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to 80 degrees and their resistance would be equivalent to that of asphalt. As an advantage, the fact that they are interlocking would save a lot of time, being able to be completed in a few weeks, since the entire manufacturing process would be done in a factory instead of on the road itself. This, in addition, would allow repairing and altering the layout much more easily than now. They are also hollow inside, which would allow the laying of wiring, pipes and other services for citizens to be simpler.

These roads would pollute less and last longer

According to Rolf Mars, one of the company's spokesmen, in an interview published inThe Guardian, these pavements could withstand temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to 80 degrees and their resistance would be equivalent to asphalt. As an advantage, the fact that they are connectable would save a lot of time, and can be done in a few weeks, since the entire manufacturing process would be done in a factory instead of on the road itself. This, in addition, would allow both repairing and altering the layout with much more ease than now. They are also hollow inside, which would allow the laying of wiring, pipes and other services for citizens to be simpler.

According to the company, this idea was conceived when considering whether the lifelong asphalt is still the answer to the current problems and needs of communication routes. Roads must have a longer life cycle, take less time to build and require less maintenance; be more sustainable, achieve greater noise reductions and be more economically competitive. All the answers are in the plastic that floats around the sea and that initiatives like The Ocean Cleanup plan to recover as soon as possible.

The Ocean Cleanup was born when the young Dutchman Boyan Slat went on vacation to Greece, where in the sea of Ulysses he was marked by the incredible amount of plastic waste on the surface of the water. Back to his daily life, he entered university while still thinking about what he had seen in the Hellenic country. So he began to research and created the social enterprise The Ocean Cleanup.

In India there have been plastic roads for 15 years

After much deliberation, Slat realized that he had been approaching the problem incorrectly. He thought of boats capturing plastics, an expensive and polluting process, when in reality the ocean itself, with its winds and currents, held the solution. The seas could clean themselves if an adequate solution was found that would use that force to its advantage.

His concept, developed in 2014, is simple yet elegant. Each unit of the system will form a V-shaped structured matrix with two 50-kilometer arms. At the confluence of both, a collecting platform will be located, which will be about 10,000 square meters. The angle of the arms will cause the plastic, normally located in the three meters closest to the surface, to group and float towards the collecting platform.

Powered by solar panels, this will separate accumulated plastic with the push of currents and will empty every 45 days, taking it ashore to be recycled. Although it may seem crazy to listen to a young person under 25, there is a long scientific report that supports it and it is estimated that one of its matrices could clean almost half of the oceans in 10 years.

In principle, Plastic Road expects to start with a pilot project at the end of 2017. Initially, it will only be a bike path. If it goes well, Rotterdam could be a pioneer in the process of saving fish from the oceans. In India there are plastic roads that have been installed for 15 years. The Guardian assures that they are much better than asphalt ones.

ONTHEROAD is a magazine that aims to become an innovative space for generating ideas and debate around the universe of mobility. Promoted by Abertis, a world leader in infrastructure management at the service of mobility and communications, ONTHEROAD wants to participate in conversations, debates, initiatives and the search for solutions for the new challenges of this constantly evolving world.