Ambitious FTI project to use plastic for paving roads makes headway
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has completed the first phase of the pilot study into its project to use recycled plastic waste for road construction, and started the second phase, which involves practical application of the experimental results on real roads.
FTI chairman Kriengkrai Thiennukul told a press conference on Friday that this innovative road development project is one of the real examples of how Thailand is taking actual action to address the current environmental crisis.
He added that the second phase of the project, which will begin next year, will collaborate with the Department of Rural Roads to use recycled plastic on roads along a predetermined route.
This will help ensure that the country's innovation is viable and ready for widespread adoption.
Thailand will be one of the first countries in the world to come up with such an innovative project to manage plastic waste pollution on this scale, Kriengkrai said.
The recycled plastic roads will provide Thailand with a new potential business model based on the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy, he said.
Peerapong Jitsangiam, head of the research team from Chiang Mai University's Department of Civil Engineering, explained that the idea of using plastic as part of road construction was born after the researchers discovered some similar qualities between single-use plastic and asphalt.
He pointed out that it can be soft when heated and solidify when cooled. So, the team has spent the last 12 months attempting to quantify the appropriate amount of plastic waste to mix in the asphalt concrete mixture required to construct a road.
The researchers have moved on to the trial stage to assess the level of safety and durability of this new method of road building, constructing a road less than one kilometre long at Chiang Mai University for actual use during the pilot first phase.
Peerapong said the outcome was satisfactory. There was no microplastic leakage to harm the environment, and the road's durability is superior to using only asphalt.
"This not only helps with reducing problems associated with plastic waste management, but also cuts the cost of road construction. Such a practice in road construction will prevent many of the environmental issues," he said.
Veera Kwanloetchit, president of the Plastics Institute of Thailand and secretary of the PPP Plastics project, lauded the accomplishment, which is in accordance with the government's goal of reducing 50% of plastic waste in Thailand's ocean by 2027.
"Thailand ranks 10th in the world in terms of waste discharge into the sea. We generated approximately 2.76 million tonnes of plastic waste per year as a result of our consumption. Only 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste were recycled, with the remainder ending up in incinerators, landfills and the environment. As a result, having a green innovation method of managing plastic waste will sustain our country's prosperity," he said.
Nicholas Kolesch, vice president of the project at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, which provided most of the funding for the study, expressed his delight at the successful completion of Phase 1 of this historic research project.
He noted that this would pave the way for a more sustainable path, connecting people and strengthening economies while preventing plastic waste from entering the environment.
"The fact that the results of this study will be made open source allows for a faster rate of valorisation of plastic waste globally, particularly post-consumer materials that are difficult to recycle and of low value," Kolesch said.
The study on innovation in road development using recycled plastic waste is part of the “Recycled Plastics in Roads Study” project to construct and strengthen roads using recycled plastic waste in line with the circular economy principle to achieve sustainable development.
The aim of the project is to provide knowledge on how to take advantage of post-consumer plastics and transform them into a core material for building and strengthening asphalt roads.
In addition, it helps reduce environmental problems and waste volume by utilising hard-to-recycle post-consumer plastic waste to become value-added resources for sustainability.
The FTI's member companies and alliances launched the recycled plastic road development project in 2021. The project is funded by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
Meanwhile, the Thai Ministry of Transport, Chiang Mai University, and PPP Plastics have collaborated to turn knowledge about using plastic waste for road paving into action and to solve environmental problems in a sustainable manner.
The project is a demonstration of what public-private collaboration can do to identify and fund practical solutions that can be applied in many countries, FTI's chairman said.
