There’s a lot of plastic that simply can’t be recycled, which ends up polluting our environment on land, rivers, and ocean. But an exciting use for this unrecyclable plastic has emerged that could be a game-changer. Scientists and regulators are seeing roads and highways as a great place to reutilize plastic waste in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.

Pilot programs are underway in five states across the US (Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, California, and Hawai’i), and the results have been very promising. By using plastic waste, such as printer cartridges, water bottles, and plastic bags, in asphalt road mixtures, fewer of those plastics end up in landfills. Or worse, the ocean! Not only does this innovative solution provide a use for wasted plastic, but it also meets the performance and durability requirements of the roads, and has produced no microplastic pollutant runoffs.

Since the results have been so impressive, the program is being expanded in many states. These roads are literally paving the way for the future!