How should we handle the mountains of plastic waste – including food containers, drinks bottles and single-use shopping bags – that are thrown away each day? One company in Halifax, Canada, has an interesting solution: turning this waste into building materials.
 
It’s an example of the circular economy at work. The initiative collects and converts 80% of the city’s recyclable plastic waste into synthetic lumber, wharf timbers, guardrails and agricultural posts, which can be nailed, shaped and used like regular timber. 

The faux-wood planks and blocks, produced by Goodwood Plastic Products, are made of solid plastic, which is more dense and heavier than real wood – but, the firm says, also more durable.

“Plastic isn’t going away anytime soon – there’s always going to be plastic – and what we need to do is find more responsible ways to deal with it, and how we can manage it better at its end of life, or give it a new youth,” Mike Chassie, the company’s vice president, recently told a local radio station.

Read the full and original story at EuropeanSting.com