Recycled plastics meet a watery end

A series of extruded profiles made entirely from recycled plastic films and bottles has been used to construct a new walkway suspended across the lake at Watermead in Buckinghamshire, UK.

The profiles are part of the Duraplas range from Centriforce Products. They are intended to have the appearance of wood but Centriforce says they are expected to last for at least 40 years.

“The construction solution we developed demonstrated the integral strength of Duraplas profiles which comes from Centriforce’s extrusion manufacturing process, making it capable of withstanding stresses that other types of recycled plastic profiles could not withstand,” said Ronnie Doctor, Marketing Manager, Centriforce Products.

Hugh Roberts, Environmental Consultant at Environments for People, the specialist contractor chosen for the project, said: “The recycled plastic profiles are so versatile to use. They arrive in hundreds of pieces just like a giant Meccano set ready to be built. The profiles can be drilled, sawn and bolted just like wood and also have a degree of flexibility to be shaped around curves in the structure. On this project we had the added advantage of being able to float the profiles on the lake to transport them to where we needed them.”