Sri Lanka paves first road with plastic waste

ECONOMYNEXT  – Sri Lanka has surfaced the first road with asphalt mixed with non-recyclable plastic waste, in a suburb of the capital using an internationally accepted practice, a Colombo-based engineering firm said.

Asset Group, which has interests in engineering and real estate said a 500 metre road from Ratmalana to Borupana, South of Colombo had been paved with an asphalt mixture containing shredded and molten plastic extracted from municipal waste.

Non-recyclable plastic waste is taken from municipal waste (in Sri Lanka plastic, paper and food waste is now separated in households) shredded and heated with aggregates at 165 degrees centigrade.

“The molten waste-plastic-mix coats the heated aggregates before being coated with bitumen,” the firm said.

“The new material – waste plastic modified asphalt concrete mix – will be applied for surfacing of roads under 150 degrees centigrate temperature. “