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Flintshire trials plastic on roads

Published: 21/01/2020

Flintshire County Council has been trialling the use of recycled plastic in asphalt to resurface a section of carriageway in Connah’s Quay.

Flintshire officers have been working closely with MacRebur “the plastic road company” who produce the recycled plastic product and Breedon Southern Limited, who mixed the product into the material at their new plant in Llay, to bring the trial to realisation.  The asphalt will be installed by Roadway Civil Engineering & Surfacing, a subsidiary of Breedon Southern Limited

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Countryside, Councillor Carolyn Thomas, said:

“We are proud to be trialling this product in Flintshire which we believe is the first in Wales. Working with MacRebur, we are exploring the possibilities of producing product to be recycled into tarmac from our kerbside collections.”

Sarah Lakin, Senior UK Manager for MacRebur, said:

“We are delighted to be assisting Flintshire and Breedons with their trial of our MR products. Flintshire Council has an excellent attitude to Circular Economy innovations which hugely benefits the environment and population of North Wales. MacRebur products, which are now used globally, give the opportunity for Flintshire to reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel extraction in surfacing projects, and may lead to recycling of their locally generated single use plastic waste in the not so distant future.”

Councillor Paul Shotton, who was instrumental in pushing for the trial, said:

“We have been trying to get this product trialled for a while and, thanks to MacRebur and Breedon Southern Limited, it has now happened. It will be interesting to see how it performs and if we can roll this out across North Wales.  It should hopefully be more durable and make a longer lasting road surface.”

The recycled plastic material is added into the asphalt mix as a substitute for a percentage of the bitumen content. MacRebur has been developing the product for a number of years and now sell the recycled ‘crumb’ in the UK and to foreign markets.