KSHB 41 reporter Grant Stephens covers stories of consumer interest. Share your story idea with Grant.
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A road resurfacing project near 75th and Oak might look routine to drivers, but inside the fresh asphalt is plastic trash - transformed into durable pavement designed to last longer and reduce waste.
This is Kansas City's second installation of the “Trash to Roads” pilot. This time blending finely-shredded tires and plastics into the asphalt mix. The first test segment was completed last year in another part of the city.
“It’s less about messing with the asphalt mix. It’s more of a use for solid waste,” said Olivia English, CEO of Livegreen USA, who coordinated with paving companies and researchers to bring the method to Kansas City.
English says embedding waste plastic and tire material into the asphalt mix can strengthen roads and helps trash avoid landfills.
“Kansas City could make their own mix with their own trash. That would save the money from shipping costs of getting trash out of the city, and it would save the material costs on putting material into roads,” she said.
The approach, she emphasizes, is not reinventing paving technology, but applying existing innovations at the local level.
“This is not new. It’s new to us,” English said. “Cities all over the country are adopting this. I’m simply trying to build a systems approach that can accelerate things that already work.”
One stretch of the new road serves as side-by-side testing.
“What we have here is the first half of the mile. This is a mile paved road with plastic and tire waste,” English said. “This first half is plastic, and the guys that rolled it, I interviewed some of the contractors that were out here putting it down, and they said it works great. And the second half of the mile is tires.”
For English, the project demonstrates a “circular solution” - reusing local waste for a product the city already buys.
“We need circular solutions. It empowers local recycling efforts,” she said. “It’s a nuanced pilot, because this should show empowerment to recyclers, to cities dealing with solid waste … This is really a solid waste conversation for me.”
English believes the ultimate measure of success will be if the city changes its asphalt specifications to include the recycled mix.
“We will know this project has succeeded when the city changes spec to allow it,” she said.
The new road at 75th and Oak, she added, gives her momentum to continue pitching the method across the region.
“I’m very happy to see this. This gives me the momentum I need to continue the story to cities around this area,” English said. “I now have something I can take and run with it. It’s not just a one-off.”
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