Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: Futuristic roads now mixing recycled plastic with asphalt making them last 10x longer (Natural News) A British engineer has used recycled plastic to build a road providing another potential solution to the mounting problem of plastic pollution that is killing the worldsmarine wildlife and threatening public health.According to astory on Curbed.com Toby McCartney paved his own drivewayby enhancing asphalt the crude oil-based component in road mix by combiningit with plastic waste cut into tiny pellets. The resultingroad is supposedly 60 percent stronger than conventional roads and 10 times more durable. Cumbria a county in Northwest England has reportedly started using McCartneys product in their own public roads. On the website of his company MacRebur McCartney said that he got the idea for using plastic in roads while in India where he saw localsmelting plastic trashas makeshift fillers for potholes. Instead of melting plastic which is actually harmful to the environment he got the idea to instead mix it into road building material as a binder additive. Eighteenmonths of testing later McCartney is now offering the asphalt enhancing product under the brand name MR6 though a patent is still pending. The threat of plastic Products such as MR6 are especially relevant today as the world continues to be plagued by a seeming unstoppable plastic problem. According to an article on Ecowatch.com the average American throws away 185 pounds of plastic a year. This is particularly problematic considering that it takes 500 to 1000 years for plastic to fully degrade but since they are not biodegradable they will not break down into biomass or any natural element. Instead they break down into microplastics which are potentially more harmful.Ten metric tons of plastic fragments are emptied into the Pacific Ocean on a daily basis and thats only in the Los Angeles area. The plastic-polluted oceans has resulted to the death of onemillion seabirds and 100000 marine mammals a year many of them found with stomachs overflowing with plastic. Additionally 44 percent of seabird species 22 percent of cetaceans and all species of sea turtles were found to have plastics in or around their bodies. But it isnt just the wildlife that is affected by this problem: a staggering 93 percent of Americans above the age of sixwere found to have BPA a toxic chemical found in many types of plastic.The toxins from plastic can cause a number of health issues as listed on Ecologycenter.org. Absorbing these toxins by ingesting microplastics (and we all unknowingly do so) could cause endocrine problems hormonal imbalance birth defects skin disease and even cancer. Plastic solutions Thankfully more and more people are engineering new and innovative ways to keep plastic waste out of landfills. Leading sportswear brand Adidas is one of them releasing a running shoe made partially out of recycled plastic in partnership with environmental advocacy group Parley for the Oceans. At the same timethere is a growing movement for the practice of ecobricking. Ecobricks are plastic bottles usually from soda or drinking water that are packed solid with non-biodegradable waste. When packed the bottles are then used as non-toxic building material ideal for community garden spaces and even homes. The ecobrick movementis pioneered by a team of environmentalists that form the Global Ecobrick Alliance who go around their respective regions to make sure that ecobricking is done right from packing to building. One doesnt have to be an engineer or dedicated environmentalist to help solve the plastic problem. Renouncing the use of straws bringing reusable shopping bags and not buyingplastic ware are just some of the many easy changes that one can adopt to reduce their plastic usage. Learn more about protecting the planet on GreenLivingNews.com. Sources include: Curbed.comMacRebur.comEcoWatch.comEcologyCenter.org
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
Pinned to Domestic and Global News on Pinterest
Found on: http://ift.tt/2qi1cV1