用塑料铺路
By IBI 的见解
日期
2019年11月19日
洛杉矶市有一个垃圾问题. 2018年之前, 洛杉矶, like much of the US exported their waste to China where it was then processed. In 2018, China significantly reduced the amount of waste that they would process from the US and elsewhere as part of a far-reaching anti-pollution campaign. 自 then, several recycling programs have folded across North America. 垃圾没有出口, 加州最大的回收商, RePlanet, 今年早些时候被迫关闭. 根据 洛杉矶杂志，今天，我的大部分.A.’s recycled materials ultimately winds up in landfills.”
垃圾填埋场, 当然, have a finite capacity and 洛杉矶 will have to develop a game plan of how to better manage their waste. One such solution is currently being explored by the Department of Street 服务 which would divert plastic waste to instead be used in road pavement. 到今年年底, a portion of First Street at Grand Avenue will become the first pilot location to test the feasibility of this solution. Technisoil, 这一创新做法背后的公司, has come up with a solution to transform plastic waste to an oil that acts as a binding material when mixed with road materials. This process is expected to cut production emissions, material costs as well as time. Rumour has it that this process can make roads car-ready in as little as 12 hours.
Previous tests have shown that streets made with plastic are 6-7 times stronger than those made with traditional asphalt. While traditional asphalt roads are highly susceptible to damage from various weather conditions, plastic roads can stretch and expand rather than cracking. Plastic roads also have a much higher melting point than that of ordinary roads (66C degrees vs. 50.2摄氏度).
India has been building roads with plastic since 2002 and today there are nearly 34,全国有1万公里的塑料公路. 根据 《AG平台》, 在印度的城市地区有超过500个,000 people are now required to construct roads using the plastic waste method. 这种做法最初是由Dr. R Vasudevan, a chemistry professor and dean at the Thiagarajar College of 工程 in Madurai. Dr. Vasudevan melted shredded plastic over hot gravel and added this mixture with asphalt in order to bond the tar and plastic together.
回到洛杉矶, it’s believed that this pavement method could reduce upfront material costs in addition to lowering maintenance costs over time. However, when it comes to sustainability, suspicion still lingers. On the one hand, plastic roads would divert plastic waste, produce less emissions and last longer. 尽管另一方面, environmentalists are still concerned about the possibility of plastics leaching into waterways and microbeads ending up in natural ecosystems. 世界上已经有这么多塑料了, finding new life for otherwise toxic waste is promising and it will certainly be interesting to see how this pilot goes.
