A Hungarian firm is adding shredded, hard-to-recycle waste into a light concrete mixture for use in paving roads, building houses, and insulating structures.
The firm based in Budapest, called Makropa, utilizes many unrecyclable waste streams that would otherwise be destined for landfills or the incinerator.
It says it can entrap between 3,000 and 4,000 tons of trash per kilometer of road.
Makropa’s (WLC) Waste Light Concrete has been available since 2021. The WLC is a blend of proprietary binding additive, shredded waste, and standard concrete mixing ingredients.
WLC can contain a variety of materials, including polystyrene foam, mixed-ester plastics that are hard to recycle, rigid plastics, but also non-plastic waste like furnace ash, sawdust, and cigarette butts. The shredded components take the form of the stones that would normally be used in standard concrete.
Károly Bus, the founder of Makropa and patent holder of WLC, says the worst thing that can happen is for these materials to be buried or incinerated.
“I don’t know anyone else utilizing it in the way we are. So far, no one else has found a solution at this scale and quantity,” Mr. Bus told Reuters.
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Plastic roads, including made of unrecyclable plastic are not a new phenomenon, but they are melted typically into an asphalt mixture. Makropa’s method sees the product maintain its concrete chemistry, making it more durable and longer-lasting, as well as more versatile.
WLC has been used to construct building foundations, and has showed impressive resistance to projectiles and greater soundproofing potential than normal concrete.
WATCH the WLC in action through this Reuters report…
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