San Miguel Corporation recently announced that they plan to embark on a mission to build roads out of recycled plastics in an effort to reduce (and reuse) plastic pollution.
In collaboration with Dow Chemical Company, a US-based chemical corporation that combines science and sustainability, San Miguel aims to produce a sustainable alternative to asphalt using repurposed “hard-to-recycle” plastics.
“Developing roads using plastics that would have otherwise ended up in landfills or our bodies of water is an environment-friendly method of disposing of scrap plastics,” said San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang.
Moving to solve the world’s growing plastic problem and provide innovative solutions to infrastructure, this initiative will assist the community on various fronts. Sourcing recycled plastics for road surfacing is said to improve stability and durability of roads, increase skin resistance, and promise a longer lifespan than asphalt, which will reduce the number of road repair projects across the country.
Sidewalks, parking lots, and municipal roads will be the pilot locations for the plastic-turned-asphalt-alternative roads, and if they prove to be durable, then San Miguel will move onto larger infrastructure projects.
This is not San Miguel’s first eco-conscious project as the company has actually been moving toward sustainable practices for years now. In 2017, San Miguel dropped their plastic water bottle business “Purewater” in an effort to reduce their plastic impact.
“The plastic bottled water business has given us good returns, but we are choosing to forego it in favor of our long-term sustainability goals,” said Ang.
Meanwhile, just earlier this year, San Miguel announced their plan to fund a P1 billion cleanup of Tullahan River, a major clogged waterway in the north in an effort to help cleanup Manila Bay, which the river feeds into.
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