Tagged: recycle

Photo of the week: Impossible is nothing, dixit Adidas

The famous Boyan Slat has bold ideas about collecting all the plastic in the oceans, but he never revealed what he plans to do with this pile of garbage. Adidas and Parley for the Oceans, an organization that aims to end pollution of the world’s oceans, have came up with something that just might be (part of) the solution. On their General Assembly in New York, Adidas presented a shoe made out of plastics and gillnets recovered from the sea. Those were collected by Sea Sheperd Conservation Society during a campaign against illegal poaching at the African West-Coast.

Adidas will not sell the shoes, but rather wanted to show what is possible with recycled materials from the oceans “when we all put our heads together”, as a spokesman told the Huffington post. Which doesn’t mean it stops here. Next year, shoes partially made out of recycled materials can be found in stores. A good step forward, literally.

 

Adidas presented a shoe made of recovered plastic and gillnets from the oceans (photo: Adidas)

Adidas presented a shoe made of recovered plastic and gillnets from the oceans (photo: Adidas)

Sources

TheHuffintonPost

Photo by epSos.de

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Photo of the Week: from soda bottle to road pavement

In Australia they’re thinking about using printer toner residues into more sustainable asphalt (see this earlier post), in the Netherlands they want to take it even further. Much further. On the 15th of July, the city council of Rotterdam announced a pilot project together with VolkerWessels to investigate the feasaility of recycled plastic roads. That plastic soda botlle you just threw away is indeed suited for recycling purposes other than a winter fleece.

Recycled plastic roads would offer modular road construction and roads could be laid out much quicker. In addition, plastics are corrosion prone and the roads are estimated to last at least three times longer than asphalt which deteriorates over time due to cold temperatures and salt in winter and high temperatures in summer. The right mix of plastics on the other hand can easily handle temperatures between -30°C and 80°C. The roads would be suited to build in other elements, such as sensors and photovoltaic cells. Altough it’s still a concept on paper, the city of Rotterdam is eager to work together with VolkerWessels to see whether this idea could become reality.

Recycled soda bottles could soon become a lightweight and durable road pavement (photo: VolkerWessel)

Recycled soda bottles could soon become a lightweight and durable road pavement (photo: VolkerWessel)

Sources

VolkerWessels
ScienceAlert

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Photo of the week: Recycled printer toner roads

Sydney found a rather creative way to reduce their emissions and waste. The city’s road contractor teamed up with a cartridge recycling company to use printer toner waste to create asphalt. The toner partially replaces the bitumen and fine aggregates used in traditional asphalt production. By using the toner in combination with recycled oil, the production process is 40% more energy efficient. The asphalt is around the same price as the old version. The first streets of Sydney have been paved and now it’s looking forward to the results. Over a few years it will become clear whether this new pavement performs as good (or better) than traditional pavement.

Watkin Street in Newton, Australia, gets a new layer of asphalt made with recycled printer toner (photo: Jamie Williams/City of Sydney)

Watkin Street in Newton, Australia, gets a new layer of asphalt made with recycled printer toner (photo: Jamie Williams/City of Sydney)

 

Source

The Guardian

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