One thing we have learnt this week – new uses for roads

open roadPeople are coming up with new uses for roads apart from for driving.  I heard this week of a researcher in India who is experimenting with using plastic combined with tarmac to build road surfaces.  Whilst this is not a new use per se its a way of tying up carbon and also a use for waste plastic which we know is a huge problem at the moment.  Apparently the waste plastic prevents potholes forming.  A company in Scotland is also trying using plastic as a road surface.

I learnt today of others coming up with new uses for roads.  These include embedding solar PV in them (surely relies on less traffic over time not more).  Growing flowers to encourage bees and even growing crops.  The short film was sold as making toilet paper.  I suppose you would not want to eat food grown in the central reservation, but then I’m not sure I would want to eat honey produced by bees foraging there either.  Bees are very sensitive to pollution so I suppose this is one way of indirectly measuring it.  I’m not absolutely sold on with of these new uses for roads (apart from the use of waste plastic), but keep thinking people.

Neil

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