HIGH Wycombe has become the first town in the UK to use recycled plastic for road surfacing.

Transport for Bucks has teamed up with Roadfill Ltd to trial the use of recycled plastics in road resurfacing on Orchard Way in Holmer Green on the A40 Oxford Road, Denham.

The new highway maintenance technique could reduce its environmental impact as well as reduce formation of cracks and potholes.

The council hope it will tackle climate change. 

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Cabinet Member for Transport Cllr Steven Broadbent: "The use of recycled plastic pellets mixed into the normal road surfacing bitumen treatment so that we actually tackle climate change by having a smaller carbon footprint on the treatment and the plastic that goes into these pellets is old bottles, be they drink bottkles, shower gel bottles, low density plastics that get turned into this.

"It's a UK company that is trialling this. We are the first in the UK to put this onto the roads after trials over in Europe so we have good confidence that this will give us an excellent treamtnet but of course we'll monitor it regularly including taking cores of the surface to see if its a real option for us over the longer term." 

Roadfill Ltd Roadfill products are added to asphalt mix.

The recycled plastic products substitutes the amount of bitumen needed to repair or relay a road.

The company claims the polymers add extra flexibility to the road surface and aids in the reduction of tyre fatigue which again is helping to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

Their website adds: "Plastic waste is at an epidemic level throughout the world and the recent televised Blue Planet 2 series has highlighted even more the damage that we humans have done.

"Roadfill are one of the pioneers in helping to use plastic waste in an environmentally and innovative way to help solve the problem of plastic waste, reduce landfill waste, reduce CO₂ emissions and save substantial sums of money for government and local authority highway budgets. 

"By taking on a product produced, used and discarded daily by everyone, plastic waste has become a major environmental problem. Our roads are a vital asset, worth in the region of £465 billion and they support all aspects of our daily work and home lives. Roadfill is in a unique position to utilise recycled plastic waste to repair, maintain and build new road networks working with our clients within this industry."