African Union and the Environment

Recycled Plastic for African Roads

Plastic waste ending up as litter has been a global problem for a long time and Africa is no exception. The African Union are always failing us regarding all important issues including the environment. However, innovative ways have been developed to re-use plastic litter for constructing roads, car parks and sports playgrounds.

An informative article is available to read on the Business Insider’s website. We’re just going to break the article down and run through its main key points in this blog post.

A major chemical company is building roads out of recycled plastic. They have already stopped 100s of tonnes of waste from clogging up landfills, polluting our seas and leaking toxic chemicals. Dow Chemical, one of the world’s largest plastic producers, began using plastic in the roads in the year 2017. The company has constructed several private roads in various different countries, using the plastic asphalt mixture. At Dow’s facility in Freeport, Texas, they constructed two roads using over 1,700 pounds of recycled plastic. That’s the equivalent weight of 120,000 plastic shopping bags!

A reformed African Union can do this!

Apparently, Dow Chemicals wouldn’t disclose the ratio of asphalt to plastic in its formula. They have developed roads for the Indonesian, Indian and Thai governments using over 100 tonnes of recycled plastic. Other companies have also been piloting the concept installing plastic roads in all the continents around the world except Africa. Creating “plastic roads firms” in Africa is something a reformed AU would be wise to consider.

In addition to reducing pollution, plastic roads have a number of advantages over traditional asphalt. Road experts say they are more resistant to corrosion from weather or vehicles. Because of this, plastic roads would reduce the cases of dangerous potholes and traffic jams. Research from western construction companies estimate that plastic roads could last for about 50 years. This is three times longer than conventional roads. Plastic roads can also withstand extremely hot or cold temperatures.

Despite these benefits, not a single plastic road has been built in Afrika so far. Where is the AU? Why don’t the African Union take this into consideration?

Africa’s Environment must be one of the top priorities for a reformed AU because our children’s future is at risk.