On the road again: Bradford Council to pioneer plastic roads specification

Bradford Council, in partnership with waste plastic road company MacRebur and asphalt manufacturer SteelPhalt, has become the first local authority in the region to specify road surfacing material that contains recycled plastic.

Based in Lockerbie, Scotland, MacRebur processes waste plastics into granules or flakes to reduce the volume of bitumen in the asphalt mix, The bitumen is then enhanced as an aggregate binder. Based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, SteelPhalt sources steel slag from the nearby steel industry, and all SteelPhalt products use 95 per cent recycled materials.

More than 2,000 tonnes of asphalt containing around 10 tonnes of recycled plastic are due to be laid on roads in and around Bradford this month. Furthermore, 95 per cent of every tonne of asphalt produced will be made up of steel slag, a by-product of the steel-making process, thus eliminating the need for quarried aggregate. 

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport at Bradford Council, said: “Using this innovative product from MacRebur is a positive step in terms of decarbonising our operations. We will continue to work with suppliers and contractors to ensure that using materials like this becomes standard practice.”

MacRebur’s Operations Director Gordon Reid added: “I am delighted Bradford can introduce our product into its road resurfacing schemes. For every tonne of asphalt laid, five kilograms of waste plastic is saved from landfill or incineration with an average saving of 7.75kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per tonne.”     

Lee Birkbeck, Regional Commercial Director at SteelPhalt, said: “We have worked closely with MacRebur over the last couple of years and we are now able to offer asphalt products that will help customers to decarbonise and meet their climate change targets. Bradford Council is the first highway authority to specify this particular range of asphalt for local road resurfacing which should deliver notable benefits to its communities and the environment.”

It is comforting to learn that local governments are thus embracing their role in waste reduction, working in co-operation with industry stakeholders, and becoming proactive in putting plastics otherwise destined for landfill or incineration back on the road to zero waste.