Recycled plastic bridge: sustainable! truly!!

An innovative new construction project has seen Wales achieve a European first in the construction sector.

A 90-foot thermoplastic bridge - made entirely from recycled materials - has been used to span the River Tweed at Easter Dawyck in Peeblesshire.

The bridge, which is made 100 per cent from re-used plastic weighs 50 tonnes and is capable of supporting traffic.

Vertech, which was responsible for the technology that underpins the project and managing subcontractors, said that the unique approach makes for maintenance-free, sustainable construction.

Recycled plastic bridge

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Green Bridge

The Tennant Avenue Bridge is a typical overpass that one may see throughout the United States. Its construction wasn’t unique; that is, no changes were made to its construction schedule to compensate for the reduced carbon footprint. The carbon footprint was reduced 25% compared to traditional mixes and may well have been further reduced. The specifications by which the concrete mixes were allowed to be used represent a dramatic change that provides a glimpse into the future sustainable design and construction of the infrastructure

The Tennant Avenue Bridge

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Energy efficiency in buildings and cities

Sustainable energy consumption, the use of renewable energies, energy efficiency and the reduction of CO₂ emissions are the current challenges that cities and communities must overcome if they want to achieve the ambitious energy and climate targets if they want to achieve the set out by the EU in their EU 2020 strategy. By the year 2020, the European Commission wants to cut CO₂ emissions by 20 per cent, increase the share of renewable energies to 20 per cent and improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent.

Under the CONCERTO project, a total of 1,830000 square metres of building space has been newly constructed or renovated to date, delivering a saving of 530,000 tons of CO₂. All projects share a common goal: to reduce CO₂ emissions in the most cost-effective manner while at the same time improving quality of life in the urban environment.

The monitoring of technological data, the evaluation of demonstration projects, the transfer of knowledge and the information campaign will be conducted over the next two years by Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The analysis of the projects and the experience gained from them form the basis for future urban development projects, particularly for future projects of the EU's Smart Cities and Communities Initiative.

Ref: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2011, September 28). Energy efficiency in building and cities. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 29, 2011

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