Plastic bottles recycled for roadworks

Plastic bottles will be recycled and used in certain building materials for roadworks in a new project embarked on by the Ministry for Infrastructure and Planning.

These include but are not limited to paving slabs or blocks, stamped concrete and kerb stones.

Manufacturing costs of these paving slabs will be a fraction of the cost of exporting plastics for disposal and will be better for the environment, the Ministry said in a statement.

Two areas at Camp Bay car park, where the existing bicycle parking adjacent to the Europa Pool is situated, will receive a new concrete slab with a stamped block-paving concrete design finish as a trial.

This full slab will contain crosscut plastic from approximately 1,700 bottles.

Apart from concrete slabs, pre-casted conventional paving blocks can also be manufactured using this method of crosscutting plastics.

There are 28 large plastic bottles within each individual block and the quantity of bottles used in each specific block or slab depends upon and varies depending on its specific application, the compressive strength and construction properties required.

The Ministry for Infrastructure and Planning said it has been working closely with the creator of this new technology for the production of building materials with plastic.

The caretaker Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Paul Balban, said: “This novel method of using plastic does not mean that we should not be concerned about the mal use of plastic, on the contrary, we should always try to minimise our dependency on this material, but in the interim, there is no better way of dealing with this huge resource destined to rubble heaps and landfills than by making use of it.”

“I am hugely proud that the Ministry will be able, through this initiative to contribute positively to the environment in this manner.”