Work is progressing on a pioneering research project that could see waste plastic used to help build Cumbria's roads of the future.

Cumbria County Council is continuing to make progress on a research project it has undertaken, in partnership with the Department for Transport, to explore the viability of using single-use plastics – ones which cannot be recycled – as part of the construction materials used to build roads.

At last week’s communities and place scrutiny advisory board meeting, the senior manager for Highways, Andy Brown brought councillors up to speed on the latest developments.

He explained that there is a clear purpose in developing this solution, given that a large proportion of the plastic waste produced is single-use, meaning it cannot be recycled and would otherwise go to landfill, an incinerator or another type of waste disposal solution.

However the council, working in partnership with Lockerbie-based company MacRebur following the receipt of £1.6m of Government funding, has now successfully deployed a number of road repairs across the county using a new technique that involves safely breaking down the plastic and incorporating it into the road material.

“Effectively, this is a national research project that we’re doing here in Cumbria, but it’s actually on behalf of the Department for Transport and other Highways authorities,” Mr Brown explained.

“The overall objective is that we’ll come up with a technical research paper.”

The original plan was a two-year study, but this deadline has been extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The work is now set to be complete by December 2021.

“We’re trying to look at whether using that plastic in roads is affordable, and whether it’s environmentally sustainable,” Mr Brown said.

“We’re also looking at whether it improved the quality of the roads, and whether it brings benefits in terms of finding a use for the waste.”

There are 12 sites across Cumbria in which the new approach has been trialled, under different road conditions. The council will now continue to investigate how well the material holds up to various stress conditions, in order to robustly test it with a view to perhaps more widespread future adoption.