Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Compared to traditional agglomerates, the manufacturing process for these paving slabs meant a saving of 14 tonnes of CO2. The new material is more resistant than normal paving stones and behaves better in response to use from buses. The slabs were produced from 3,717 kg of non-reusable plastics, equivalent to 2,478 bags of everyday binbags full of plastic.

The pilot surface has been installed in C/ Josep Soldevila, in Sant Andreu. The material includes traces of plastics that cannot be recycled and have reached the end of their useful life, plus another type of residue from the ink left in printer cartridges.

The goal is to improve the sustainability of the agglomerate use in city streets, in the same way other tests with residue non-reusable plastics have been conducted in Passeig de la Verneda and C/ Aragó. In this case, this is the first test with material that includes residue ink from printer cartridges.

Reduction in CO₂ and improvement to the useful life of paving

The new material’s resistance to traffic will be measured and the reduction in CO₂ emissions during production measured. The latter is reduced on two levels: firstly, the residue plastic replaces the bitumen in the mix used to make paving, meaning the CO₂ involved in the manufacturing process is reduced. Secondly, the process avoids the treatment of waste that would be produced from these plastics, saving in greenhouse-gas emissions as a result.

Thanks to the properties from the ink residue, the idea is that the useful life of this paving will be improved. This residue offers a new anti-fuel treatment which avoids the pollution and damage generated by fuel spills on paving. Similarly, the material should delay the appearance of premature tyre marks caused by buses, reducing maintenance needs and mid to long-term surface work, with the economic and environmental advantages that this brings.