After 844 trial tests, and setting his own street on fire, founder of Scottish start-up MacRebur Toby McCartney finally hit on a viable solution for repairing potholes. His idea sought to resurface roads using recycled plastics, and the result is a form of polymer modification of asphalt that uses a mixture of waste plastics and additives to create an alternative to bitumen. Bitumen is the sticky, fossil fuel derived substance that binds together the aggregates that surface our roads, and although Toby’s new business can’t eliminate it, it can replace a proportion of it, lowering the road’s carbon footprint and finding a practical use for waste plastics that are polluting our planet.

According to MacRebur this could be the start of a new type of circular economy with local councils using local plastic waste to pave their highways. Department for Transport trials are underway to assess the long-term performance of the new recycled plastic roads.

GUESTS

Toby McCartney, Founder and CEO, MacRebur

Gordon Reid, Operations Director, MacRebur

Dr Greg White, Director Airport Pavement Research Programme, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia