In an attempt to lessen Vietnam’s alarming rates of plastic waste, reduce pressure on landfills and increase sustainability, Hai Phong plans to begin using recycled plastic to create roads.
In what will be the first time such a road has been created in Vietnam, the northern Vietnamese port city will partner with Dow Vietnam and Deep C Industrial Complex.
The first kilometer of the road, created using four tons of plastic provided by Dow, will be built in the aforementioned industrial area. The plastic is melted before being mixed with asphalt, VnExpress reports. It is unclear how plausible the plan is on a larger scale.
It is hoped the project will help create a market for plastic waste in Vietnam, which is already struggling to deal with a growing trash problem. A village outside Hanoi that recycles the material is overloaded and heavily polluted, while trash mountains have begun to appear on Phu Quoc.
The Hanoi village is partly fueled by scrap imports from China, a process which Vietnamese authorities aim to put a stop to by 2025.
Late last year, the Hanoi People’s Committee proposed a new program to combat the overuse of plastic bags across the city. By 2020, the committee plans to drastically reduce the amount of plastic bags in Hanoi and increase eco-friendly practices in industrial complexes by 60-70%.
