SMC plans to build roads from recycled plastic

Rodney Artida, Marianne Ilumba

Beverage giant San Miguel Corporation announced Monday that it would tap recycled plastics as a material to build roads.

SMC has tapped material science company Dow Chemical for the project. To reduce waste, hard-to-recycle plastics will be used as an alternative raw material input for asphalt overlay for roads, SMC said in a statement.

The usage of plastics as a composite for asphalt has been used in India, U.S., U.K. and Australia.

Among the advantages of plastics composite roads are improved stability and durability, increased skid resistance, longer lifespan of roads, lower asphalt costs and less waste.

It can be noted that the Philippines is one of the major contributors of plastic pollution in the ocean according to United States-based non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy. The country produces 2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste every year, with half a million metric tons believed to be exiting into the Pacific Ocean.

“Developing roads using plastics that would have otherwise ended up in landfills or our bodies of water is an environment-friendly method of disposing of scrap plastics,” SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said.

“We can help our environment and at the same time improve the quality of our infrastructure projects. We are eager to begin this initiative,” Ang said.

SMC will initially test the technology in smaller municipal roads, sidewalks and parking lots. Once proven efficient, Ang said that SMC might apply the technology for larger infrastructure projects like the proposed New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.