Waste plastic carriageway in Cockermouth recycles equivalent of 158,571 plastic bags

Lamplugh Road in Cockermouth is the latest highway to be resurfaced with waste plastic, recycling the equivalent of 158,571 single use plastic bags.

The resurfacing has taken place as part of the ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs Programme - a £22.9 million initiative funded by the Department for Transport (DfT). 

Cumbria County Council is working with waste plastic road company MacRebur to trial the sustainability and suitability of using plastic waste additives in highway construction.

Replacing part of the bitumen normally used to produce asphalt with granulated waste plastic, MacRebur’s roads require less fossil fuel, resulting in less carbon emissions. The recent resurfacing of Lamplugh Road offset 2,093kg of carbon.

Enhancing and extending the bitumen binder also improves the quality of the road itself.

Toby McCartney, CEO of MacRebur, says: “Because our roads contain plastic, they are naturally more flexible, meaning they can cope better with contraction and expansion caused by changing weather conditions. Having gone through rigorous testing, it has been demonstrated by various laboratories across the world that our roads significantly improve the stiffness and deformation of asphalt.”

Lamplugh Road marks the third DfT funded waste plastic highway in the county, with more set to be completed in various locations throughout the year.

Toby continued: “We’re very happy with the progress of the Live Labs programme, and we’re looking forward to providing more local authorities with our product in a bid to create roads that are both durable and environmentally friendly.

“Whilst the trials are still taking place in Cumbria, our product can be used by local authorities across the country – and we’re looking forward to working with more councils to deliver better, cleaner roads.”

Allocated £1.6 million, Cumbria is one of eight projects selected to carry out real world tests using new highways technology and methods on local roads.

Councillor Keith Little, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, says: “I’m delighted that this fantastic road surface will now be used in Cockermouth, having been successfully trialled in other locations in the county.

“MacRebur’s ‘plastic roads’ provide a more durable and sustainable solution for road surfacing and filling potholes, as well as diverting plastics that would otherwise have ended up in landfill – and I look forward to treating more roads across the Cumbria network in the coming months and years.”

With the government planning to build over 4,000 miles of new roads across the country as part of a five-year plan, MacRebur could be the answer to building the new infrastructure, without any negative environmental impact.

Giles Perkins, Live Labs programme director said: “This next stage of Cumbria’s innovative trials of plastic in roads illustrates how we are scaling innovation across the ADEPT Live Labs, in places often overlooked for such deployments. As our programme develops over the next year we’ll be sharing findings so other local authorities can determine their applicability elsewhere.”

ADEPT represents local authority, county, unitary and metropolitan Directors. The ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme is a two-year £22.9 million project funded by the Department for Transport and supported by project partners SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business, EY, Kier, O2, Ringway and WSP. Nine local authorities are working on projects to introduce digital innovation across SMART mobility, transport, highways, maintenance, data, energy and communications. Live Labs is part of ADEPT’s SMART Places programme to support the use of digital technology in place-based services.