Asda Wakefield given carpark make-over - with the help of 90,000 plastic bottles

A total of 90,000 waste plastic water bottles, which are made from non-recyclable plastic and would otherwise have gone to landfill or been incinerated, have gone into making the tarmac to resurface the Wakefield store’s car park.

The plastic from the bottles is ground into tiny pieces and mixed together with asphalt, a sticky, black, and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum, which sets to form the tarmac.

By using the plastic bottles, the amount of ‘virgin’ petroleum is reduced and the carbon footprint is lowered. Wakefield is the first store in the Asda estate to trial the new process, which is hoped will provide a model for resurfacing works at other Asda car parks in future.

The new car park design forms part of Asda’s commitment to use less and recycle more plastic across the business. In the last year alone, the retailer removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic from its own brand products.

Daniel Hargreaves, Construction Manager at Asda said: “This is a really innovative way to use plastic which cannot otherwise be recycled and it demonstrates our commitment to looking for sustainable alternatives all across the business.

"We’re hoping with the success of this roll out in our Wakefield store, we will be able to look at using this exciting and more environmentally-friendly approach to car parks across the Asda estate”.