South Africa’s first plastic road has been officially opened in Jeffreys Bay and could result in an international plastic road company setting up a factory in SA. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening of Woltemade Street in Jeffreys Bay took place on Friday after the road’s completion — which took less than three months.
About 1.5 tons of plastic, which is comparable to 1.8-million plastic bags, was used to make just 1km of road. Jeffreys Bay mayor Horatio Hendricks Hendricks agreed to the project when Scottish manufacturer MacRebur and Port Elizabeth-based companies SP Excel and Scribante came on board.
The spin-off business to the project could see MacRebur open a factory in SA in a bid to build more such environmentally friendly roads. The 300m strip of Woltemade Street was relayered with plastic-infused tar and a further section of Koraal Street will follow. By the end of the project both streets would have used three-million plastic bags. “The road now includes 700kg of recycled waste plastic. “The result is a road that is more durable and also friendlier to the environment,” Hendricks said at the opening.