Campus Update

If Sahadat Hossain has his way, plastic roads could be the next wave of innovation for highway departments.

The civil engineering professor and director of the UTA Solid Waste Institute for Sustainability is using both recycled and unrecycled plastic waste products to fill in surface cracks and reduce rutting in roads—the first use of what's called "plastic road" material in Texas. The product is expected to improve the durability and strength of highway pavement and serve as a replacement for bitumen in asphalt pavement roads.

In June, Dr. Hossain put his research to the test by repaving a campus parking lot with materials created from recycled plastic.

"This is a perfect example of reuse of recycled materials for circular economy and green economy," he says. ₪