Councillor asks Comhairle to look at plastic roads scheme

At this week’s meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Maciver asked a question about the Comhairle’s position on the scheme.

He was told that this would be looked into for the future.

Speaking after the meeting he said: “I am delighted that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar are to look into the viability of using recycled plastic to replace Bitumen in road construction.

“This could deliver a huge saving on two fronts, it is believed to last much longer than conventional methods in road maintenance and also means that we shall cut down on landfill charges.”

The use of plastic based materials in road construction is being investigated by many councils and has already been put into practice in some areas.

The product has been created by the firm MacRebur after the founder Toby McCartney visited southern India with a charity helping people who work on rubbish dumps and he saw there how plastic litter is used to repair roads.

The premise is that by reducing the use of bitumen in asphalt, the carbon footprint associated with road construction can be reduced.

The process involves making plastic pellets from bottles and bags that would otherwise be destined for landfill sites.