We've seen recycled bottles turned into car seats for Ford's 2012 Focus electric vehicle. And we've seen plans by Boeing to recycle composites used in its Dreamliner plane for nonstructural uses in aircraft. Now recycled bottles and other plastic products destined for landfills have been turned into structural, weight-bearing elements of a 90-foot heavy-load bridge in Scotland.
Recycled Structural Composite (RSC), a proprietary composite thermoplastic material from Axion International, is made from 100 percent recycled plastics. RSC is also 100 percent recyclable at the end of its useful life. The material won't rot, crumble, splinter, rust, or corrode, and it requires no painting or regular maintenance. In other words, it is a type of Trex building material, but instead of going into your back deck, it's designed for heavy-duty manufacturing uses such as railroad ties and heavy-load bridge elements like I-beams, pilings, and boards.
The crew lowers composite panels made from recycled plastics into place in the 90-foot Scottish bridge structure. Source: Axion International
Axion constructed the bridge's components at its plant in Pennsylvania and shipped them in six sections to Scotland, where the bridge spans the River Tweed at Easter Dawyck near Edinburgh. It was assembled and erected in four days (You can see a picture gallery here). Recycling the materials in the bridge prevented 50 tons of plastic waste from going into a landfill or being shipped to Asia, Anil Aggarwal, director of the Welsh firm Vertech Composites, one of Axion's partners in the project, said in a press release. The bridge, which is also the longest to date built with recycled plastic, meets European standards with a load rating of 45 metric tons.
The three-span bridge, which measures about 12 feet wide by 90 feet long, replaces an old road bridge made of steel beams and timber decking. It is the first recycled plastic bridge outside the US. Axion has built several US bridges from its RSC material, most recently in North Carolina.
Axion developed its RSC material in conjunction with Rutgers University's Materials Sciences and Engineering Department. Vertech plans to manufacture its own high-performance composite sheet materials, using Rutgers University's polymer blending and processing technology, for use in the European construction industry. These composite materials will serve as a replacement for the less environmentally friendly plywood, MDF, and laminates.
If the materials are the least expensive installed cost, don't require maintenance like steel, and last longer because they are impervious to rot, chemicals, etc, then it looks to me like the total cost of ownership would be lower than steel. If the materials cost is the same as steel, or even somewhat higher, this lower COO is likely to offset that cost. The simple fact that the Army is paying for it tells me this is highly likely.
I'd be surprised if it's impervious to fire--I don't know any plastic that is.
This is a great use of recycled material. A major portion of steel bridge maintenance is the on-going sandblast / paint cycle. Using plastic for the bridge span is great. Using recycled plastic is even better.
Good story, Ann. I'm impressed. It's one thing to fill a car seat with this material, but a weight-bearing bridge is quite something else. It pretty much takes the ceiling off for this material. Imagine, infrastructure made from landfill material. Now I don't feel so bad about drinking bottled water.
All over Europe, energy is recovered by incinerating trash, generating steam for heating apartment complexes in towns and cities and/or generating electricity. This works very well, greatly reducing the volume of material that needs to be buried in landfills.
These materials have higher specific strength than mild steel, and we have a handle on the most important issue for thermoplastics- the creep issue.
As for cost, I'll let other speak. The Army has just completed a full 2 year constant study of the first takn bridge at Bargg, and came through perfectly. Listen to the video on the tank bridge opening ceremony very carefully. He says 3 important things- one referring to maintenance, one referring to degradation, and one referring to a ROI.
Thank you for the nice article. These materials are quite different from Trex in many regards, and this is recyclable after the end of life. As for static/Dynamic considerations, the tank bridges were designed to have a tank parked on the bridge for 25 years and then drive off and have the bridge recover its' shape. The Scotland bridge was a more modest 10 year loading.
I recommend a couple of videos to those interested:
The reference to the M1 ABRAMS tank crossing a bridge @ Ft. Bragg begs the question regarding static & dynamic loads. Was the tank in motion or sitting mid-span? If in motion, the calculations for acceptable load vs. deflection take on a different posture than if the tank was sitting mid-span w/ engine running while the summer sun baked down on the bridge structure. While I'm convinced that the designers did their "homework" regarding allowable loads, did they also consider ambient temperature and/or chemical decomposition from UV rays, etc.? The installation of a short-span bridge in Scotland, which see much cooler average temperatures & wetter climate conditions than many parts of the U.S. etc. also should be a factor in determining suitability of installation. The initial cost of installation should not be high on the list of priorities, given the elimination of periodic maintenance, especially in light of the fact that maintenance costs are not fixed over time. It would seem to me that they are probably more exponential in nature.
I wonder about the fire risk? With bush fires and forrest fire becoming more common plastic bridges seems a bit scary. That is also ignoring fires caused by a motor vehicle accident.
I wonder what the cold temperature behaviour is like?
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are designing a robotic arm that takes inspiration from the loose, flexible, yet very strong structure of the armored plates on a seahorse's tail.
Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology have designed a new nanoscale material that can transmit light faster than the 186,000 miles per second it usually takes to travel through air.
It has often been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. This spring, the state's wind power is setting energy generation records and solar energy generation is expected to rise sharply during the second half of 2013.
The latest model of Liquid Robotics' Wave Glider autonomous, unmanned marine vehicle (UMV), the SV3, is reportedly the world's first hybrid wave- and solar-power-propelled unmanned ocean robot.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
6 
