SEVERAL countries have adopted novel and environment-friendly ways to deal with waste. They are constructing trial roads from the recycled materials. In Australia, the first stretch of plastiphalt road in Sydney’s south was completed in August this year.

Combined with asphalt, the road was created using 176,000 plastic bags, 55,440 glass bottles and toner from almost 4000 printer cartridges. The road covers a 250-metre stretch of highway. Almost 35 per cent of the 250 tonnes of asphalt used in the project was created from recycled material.

This is a great step forward and will help find a sustainable long-term use for recycled materials. The life of these roads is expected to be longer than conventional thoroughfares and they are expected to handle a larger volume of heavy traffic.

This is an exciting development for the future of road construction. One hopes that the concerned authorities in Pakistan also benefit from this modern know-how.

Shafiuddin Ahmed

Vancouver, Canada

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2018