A Welsh startup called Vertech has built a 30-metre footbridge across the Tweed River in Scotland, made out of 50 tonnes of recycled plastic waste.
There are multiple benefits of building a bridge out of plastic, rather than metal. It doesn't rust. It doesn't need regular maintainence. It doesn't need to be painted.
It's also 100 percent recyclable, so when the local community decide they don't want it any more, it can be broken up and turned into another bridge elsewhere.
The installation process was relatively simple. It was designed by engineers from Rutgers and Cardiff Universities, then constructed off-site and brought into place, where it was then assembled in four days. The entire process of putting the bridge together took less than two weeks.
Vertech's co-founder and CEO, William Mainwaring, told World Architecture News: "We shouldn't be sending so much of the UK's waste plastic to landfill nor should we be shipping it to China. With this unique technology we can now recycle it ourselves to produce increasingly sought after high quality and sustainable construction materials for the European market."
The company hopes to make its recycled thermoplastic products more widely available in the European construction sector, predominantly as a replacement for timber and laminated products.
In 2012 it hopes to open a manufacturing facility for the thermoplastic composite materials in North Wales.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
