Tesco transform recycled plastic into a car park

Tesco has re-surfaced a car park in Scotland by using plastic waste.

The supermarket chain has worked in partnership with MacRebur, a plastic road company, to re-surface the car park at the Tesco Extra at Cuckoo Bridge, Dumfries.

This saved over 900 kilograms of plastic from going to landfill. By using the waste plastic, the equivalent weight in fossil fuels has been saved from extraction. The carbon footprint has also been reduced by over a tonne.

Tony McCartney, MacRebur Plastic Road Company, said: “We’re able to take the waste plastics that are otherwise destined for landfill and add them into an asphalt mix to create a stronger, longer lasting, pothole free road surface.”

Kene Umeasiegbu, Head of Environment at Tesco, said: “We are working hard to reduce plastics and reuse and recycle wherever possible. Re-using waste plastics in this way is another example of how Tesco are innovating in the war against waste.”

Tesco have said that they will test the road surface through the winter and if successful will aim to work with MacRebur on future projects to help re-use plastic waste.

Tesco have previously led the charge in sustainable measures and were the first major retailer to remove 5p bags from its stores, resulting in the amount of single use bags sold by Tesco in the last year reducing by more than half. They also have made a pledge for all packaging to be fully recyclable or compostable by 2025.