Polymer-paved roads amongst proposal put forth by local recycling company as way to address plastic pollution
Plastic waste constitutes a large percentage of discarded items at the recycling centre, yet it has the lowest recycling rate.
OVER two decades ago, India made international headlines for taking the lead in building polymer roads as a way to tackle the growing problem of plastic littering in the country.
Also known as plastic-tar roads, these stretches were paved with a mix that also comprised shredded plastic, in quantity that replaced around 10 per cent of bitumen in the tar mixture.
This method is said to not only greatly reduce plastic pollution, but has actually built good quality roads that last longer than their conventionally tar-sealed counterparts.
Since then, India has paved over 25,000km with this strong plastic-embedded layer and not only that, the technology has gained solid grounds in countries like the US, Britain, the Netherlands, Ghana, and Indonesia.
Malaysia could have benefitted tremendously from this, but it seems to be slow in adopting it.
This is despite the country producing an estimated 23,000 tonnes of waste daily, outranking its neighbours like Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
‘Of assumption and under-appreciation’
Eye 1 Recycle (Miri) general manager Bryan Chia Sak Chan thinks that the lack of action in resolving the plastic issue is always a problem in the Malaysian society.
Chia shows the bundles of discarded paper and paper-based items ready to be shipped out to paper mills in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Firstly, Malaysia is an oil-producing country. Bitumen is one among many by-products from petroleum’s crude distillation.
“A possible reason why Malaysia is being left behind in this plastic-recycling initiative is that many of us assume that we would still have plenty of resources to keep us going.
“Secondly, sorting and transporting discarded plastic pieces require immense amount of energy and are time-consuming. Those who have worked in the recycling industry would understand when I say that it (sorting and transporting) is the most under-appreciated job, despite the high salary offered.”
The challenges
Chia, who first ventured into recycling industry more than a decade ago in Jakarta, Indonesia, believes that the root of the problem in waste pollution is education – or the lack of it, for that matter.
“Unlike Japan or Taiwan, education on recycling is seldom put as a priority in Malaysia. We were not taught, from a young age, to understand how recycling solid waste works; it’s not even in the school’s syllabus.
“My experience in this industry has made me realised how much education can bring changes.
“It is crucial that every person must learn that they are responsible for the rubbish that they’ve created.
“Research shows that an average person produces about 26kg of solid waste of all types — if that person failed to recycle the rubbish that they had created, they’re actually a liability/burden to society.”
Unlike papers and metals that have recycling rates between 99 per cent and 99.9 per cent in Malaysia, plastic waste has only nine per cent, which is half of the global plastics recycling rate of 18 per cent.
“Statistics by Miri City Council (MCC) reveal that only two per cent of plastic waste in Miri Division is recycled.
“This two per cent will be shipped out to factories to be turned into small pallets, which then will be melted and reproduced into new plastic items such as plastic baskets, plastic chairs and items that are non-food grade.
“Factors that actually contribute to people stopping from making any effort to recycle their plastic waste include them lacking the patience, time, energy and space to sort and transport the discarded plastic, to bring it to recycling centres.
“Actually, the cost to ship out the sorted plastic waste to factories where it is processed into pallets, is also not ideal,” says Chia.
Chia’s community-based and educational activities involve children from as many as 20 schools in and around Miri.
‘Very tough and source-consuming’
Plastics are divided into many grades: polyethylene terephthalate (PET) such as water bottles, oven0able films and other types of packaging; high-density polyethylene (HDPE) such as milk containers, juice bottles, rubbish bags, and caps or closures; Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) such as plumbing pipes, medical products, and bottles for storing cleaning products; low0density polyethylene (LDPE) such as shopping bags, squeeze bottles and disposable gloves; polypropylene (PP) such as condiment bottles, medicine bottles, straws and Tupperware products; polystyrene (PS) such as disposable cutleries, food boxes and packaging foam; and other types such as those used in producing baby bottles, compact discs and storage containers.
Overwhelming amount of work is needed in sorting and bundling up the discarded plastics, to the extent that many recycling centres have discarded the idea of handling plastic waste.
“We have to sort out the plastic waste according to its grade because recycling companies would reject it if we simply just bundled everything together without segregating the pieces according to grade and colour.
“As someone in the industry for more than 10 years, I must admit that the recycling industry is very tough and source-consuming and on top of that, it has never been viewed as a sector that can attract public interest, despite it playing the most crucial part in environmental sustainability.
“The fact that it is more cost-viable to ship out discarded papers and metals to factories in Peninsular Malaysia is because of the high recycling rate and reproduction value, whereas for plastic waste, it is usually left behind in that it takes up a massive amount of cost and space to be shipped out.
“This is an issue that must be seriously looked into,” stresses Chia.
At nascent stage
On March 9, 2019, MalaysiaKini reported that the federal Public Works Department (JKR)’s Centre of Excellence for Engineering and Technology (CREaTE) was testing a road pavement technology utilising waste-plastic asphalt, as well as latex asphalt, on federal roads in Kerdau, Temerloh in Pahang and in Chukai, Kemaman in Terengganu.
The site study claimed to be the first time plastic waste was being used as a substance for road pavement in the country.
The report said that preliminary findings from CREaTE’s studies that compared the plastic and latex asphalts showed that the latter had stronger resistance against the formation of cracks and dents to the surface, but there was a setback – latex was more expensive.
Plastic asphalt, on the other hand, had stronger binding power and better resistance against water, which could easily weaken the binding power in a conventional asphalt – one of the reasons contributing to the formation of potholes on roads.
On Nov 26, 2020, a construction and civil engineering company, Setia Bintang Engineering Sdn Bhd, unveiled a plan to pave roads in Malaysia using plastic waste to save thousands of tonnes of plastic waste accumulated on landfills, and also to address pollution.
Using the technology developed by a Scottish company, MacRebur, which produced high0performance modified asphalt, Setia Bintang Engineering laid a pilot stretch of 117m incorporating the technology, using 810kg of plastic waste, along the KM21 layby on the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway in the Gombak area.
For those questioning the durability of plastic-tarred road, a research paper was published in 2016, on ‘Use of Plastic Waste on Bituminous Mixture for Road Pavement’ by the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, which investigated the physical and chemical properties of the modified bitumen with different percentages of plastic waste.
The outcome from that research, which involved the usage of different plastic waste content between 1.5 per cent and six per cent, showed that the addition of plastic waste into the mix could improve the performance of bitumen, and as the percentage of plastic waste increased, the viscosity of bitumen would also increase at high temperature.
For the record, high viscosity would translate into less chances of rutting (depression/deformation).
It had also been proven that about four per cent of plastic waste added to bitumen could result in optimal performance, enabling the production of a pavement that could resist heavy vehicles and hot climate.
Another research paper was published in 2021 by group of researchers from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Build Environment of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, to identify the stability of asphalt bitumen with plastic waste as additive.
The research involved analysing and comparing 54 previously-published papers on the same or similar topics. The review was meant to identify efficient ways of recycling plastic waste as an additive material for road pavements.
Discarded items at the centre, yet to be sorted out.
The outcome from this study found that modified mixture possessed better road stability with mixture of between four per cent and 16 per cent, yet it appeared to decrease in stability once plastic contents went beyond 16 per cent.
Regardless of the variability from these research papers, they shared one conclusion – using plastic waste as additive into the asphalt mix could contribute to the environmental sustainability and at the same time, produce stable road pavement than the conventional tar-sealed one.
A service to community
On this, Chia strongly feels that in Sarawak, Miri can take the lead in producing plastic road, starting with the smaller stretches.
He is currently waiting for slot from the MCC to allow him present his proposal, which should happen in the next couple of months.
“The proposal was initially scheduled for presentation before the MCO (Movement Control Order) in 2020, which obviously forced it to be delayed.
“My suggestion is that we cover places such as those in recreational parks or residential areas, on trial basis. Only after having achieved a certain amount of success, could we move to bigger roads.
“The council has been taking the lead in promoting the environmental sustainability cause – this would be a game-changer in saving costs and reducing plastic pollution,” he adds.
A gross calculation based on the formula done by the United Nations (UN) showed that up to last year, Chia’s recycling company, which was established in 2018, had helped reduced over 182,000 litres of petrol from collecting plastic waste, resulting in 548,454kg reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emission into atmosphere, nearly 20,000 trees from being cut down, and saving as many as over 2,700 acres of land from being turned into landfills.
Chia, who has an accounting background, stumbled upon the opportunity to venture into business after having completed his Master’s Degree in Business Administration at the Nottingham University.
“A former college mate proposed a joint-venture in Jakarta, where we got our hands in a different business dealing with mobile phones, computers and laptops.
“We later found that discarded electronic parts would make good business too. So, I set up computer spare parts and recycling business, which lasted about 10 years.
“Over time, we realised that recycling was not just about making profits; we’re actually making changes to the lives of the poor folks who came to work with us, creating better lives for themselves.”
Chia, now in his 40s, returned to Miri at the end of 2016, after a riot broke out over racial issue involving then-Governor of Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as ‘Ahok’.
“That time, I told myself that once I was able to bring my family back to Miri safely, I would do my utmost best to give back to society,” Chia recalls.
Apart from managing the recycling business, he has also gone all out in approaching over 20 schools including kindergartens, primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions.
Through this platform, he and his team have delivered recycling awareness talks, collaborated with the students in projects, and provided them with hands-on education about recycling.
Chia’s company has also been helping students from hardcore poor households by channelling to them food aid and other essential items.
Recently, he collaborated with a local hotel and a corporate firm, giving talks on waste-sorting system to the participants.
“It’s a small step towards encouraging the local community to adopt a habit of segregating their household waste, which would make sorting waste easier in the later process.”
Chia delivers a talk on environmental conservation during a programme run at a school in Miri.
Chia was named the winner of the Sarawak Startup Entrepreneur Competition 2020, in recognition of his plastic-recycling initiative. In the following year, his company won the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Malaysia Sustainable Environment Award through its ‘Create a Green and Sustainable Environment’ project.
For now, Chia is in the midst of kicking off the ‘EcoBrick’ project, which involves using plastic bottles packed with used plastic bits up to a certain density, as one-of-a-kind structural building blocks.
This project has already drawn a participation of 7,000 students from local schools.
“We are targeting about 10,000 students to take part in the project, and we also hope to send out a strong message against plastic pollution and raise public awareness of it.”
Chia hopes that his effort would garner high participation and interest among the local communities, for them to invest more efforts in plastic-recycling and ‘to save Mother Earth from being suffocated by plastic waste’.