Giethoorn, 22 November 2018 – As of today, the Dutch municipality of Steenwijkerland can be added to the list of towns that have a PlasticRoad. The construction of the second PlasticRoad pilot in the province of Overijssel has started today. With the clicking together of two PlasticRoad elements, Overijssel provincial councillor Bert Boerman and alderman Marcel Scheringa of the municipality of Steenwijkerland, together with the PlasticRoad team, perform the opening act. The PlasticRoad bicycle path in Giethoorn is 30 meters long and is adjacent to provincial road N334. The PlasticRoad – the modular, circular and climate-proof road based on recycled plastic – was developed by KWS, Wavin and Total. The world premiere introduction of the first bicycle path took place in Zwolle last September.
In just a few hours’ time the PlasticRoad elements were laid this morning. During the next few days, the PlasticRoad team will be working on the finishing of the bicycle path, such as the verge and the connection to the existing tile pavement. The bicycle path will reopen after the weekend. As was the case in Zwolle, this pilot also contains as much recycled plastic as 218,000 plastic cups or 500,000 plastic bottle caps.
The second pilot in the province of Overijssel
Overijssel now boasts two PlasticRoad bicycle paths, one in Zwolle and one in Giethoorn. Overijssel provincial councillor Bert Boerman explains: ”The Province encourages entrepreneurs with innovative and sustainable ideas and thus contributes to a circular economy. By making a bicycle path available in our province, the new PlasticRoad concept can be tested in practice on technical and economic feasibility. Thus, we bring innovation a little step further.”
Further development of the PlasticRoad
With the pilot projects, the PlasticRoad team will further develop the concept. The biggest difference with Zwolle is the subsidence sensitive subsurface in and around Giethoorn. The soil is compressed by pressure and load (settlement), and can therefore cause problems, for example when constructing the infrastructure. “In Giethoorn we are perfectly able to test the advantages of the low weight of the elements in relation to those settlements”, explained Marcel Jager of Wavin and a member of the PlasticRoad team.
The second pilot also differs in particular with regard to the installation of the PlasticRoad: lessons learned from the first pilot in Zwolle have already been implemented in this second pilot. For example, the PlasticRoad team uses lighter equipment during construction, and drives it directly over the placed PlasticRoad elements instead of next to them.
Follow-up
Both pilot projects in Zwolle and Giethoorn will be continuously monitored by the PlasticRoad partners and their customers for five years. In the meantime, both pilot projects are regularly evaluated in order to further develop the PlasticRoad concept into a product that can be introduced to the market.
Cobouw Award
Last night the PlasticRoad received the Cobouw Award for the best product of 2018. The awards were presented during the Cobouw Event at the Harbor Club in Vinkeveen. The voice of the independent expert jury counted for 2/3 and the audience votes for 1 / 3rd.
