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"...recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40C and 80C. Roads coul

"...recycled plastic, which it said required less maintenance than asphalt and could withstand greater extremes of temperature– between -40C and 80C. Roads could be laid in a matter of weeks rather than months and last about three times as long, it claimed." "...asphalt is responsible for 1.6m tons of CO2 emissions a year globally – 2% of all road transport emissions."

VLM 11y ago
WRT the first quote the road business in the USA is extremely corrupt along the lines of cellphone battery life always being advertised as about 3 times reality, etc, so it would be assumed the claims are outright false and the maint cost will be higher and only last 1/3 the lifetime of asphalt. Its an interesting cultural problem that the claims might actually be true in that that country! WRT the second quote, that doesn't answer the question. If you can't mix the heavy stuff from the distillation column with gravel and pave roads with it, you'll have to ... crickets ... Bonfire it? Dump it in the ocean? Pour it in a pit and leave the cleanup to someone else? Ship it far away for someone else to use it as asphalt? Damaged roads are very expensive ecologically. Saving the planet $5 on pavement is a good way to charge the planet $1000s in tie rods and suspension components, but out of sight, out of mind...
Tharkun 11y ago
I don't buy the marketing blurn. How are potholes going to be repaired? As for asphalt's CO2 footprint, that's the figure for asphalt mixed with cement. Extracting asphalt and bitumens from crude oil is literally the bottom of barrel. Pardon typos, fat sausages on moving bus.
- mulletbum 11y ago
  I think you're assuming it potholes in the same way as asphalt. Even if it did, it would be repaired most likely the same way potholes are repaired today, by infection new plastic into the hole and forming the previous layer to it, just like we do with asphalt today.

VLM 11y ago

WRT the first quote the road business in the USA is extremely corrupt along the lines of cellphone battery life always being advertised as about 3 times reality, etc, so it would be assumed the claims are outright false and the maint cost will be higher and only last 1/3 the lifetime of asphalt. Its an interesting cultural problem that the claims might actually be true in that that country! WRT the second quote, that doesn't answer the question. If you can't mix the heavy stuff from the distillation column with gravel and pave roads with it, you'll have to ... crickets ... Bonfire it? Dump it in the ocean? Pour it in a pit and leave the cleanup to someone else? Ship it far away for someone else to use it as asphalt? Damaged roads are very expensive ecologically. Saving the planet $5 on pavement is a good way to charge the planet $1000s in tie rods and suspension components, but out of sight, out of mind...

Tharkun 11y ago

I don't buy the marketing blurn. How are potholes going to be repaired? As for asphalt's CO2 footprint, that's the figure for asphalt mixed with cement. Extracting asphalt and bitumens from crude oil is literally the bottom of barrel. Pardon typos, fat sausages on moving bus.

mulletbum 11y ago
I think you're assuming it potholes in the same way as asphalt. Even if it did, it would be repaired most likely the same way potholes are repaired today, by infection new plastic into the hole and forming the previous layer to it, just like we do with asphalt today.