In Hawaii, researchers are literally paving the roads with good intentions. They have come up with an innovative method for putting the island’s plastic pollution to work, covering its roads with asphalt mixed with plastic waste and old fishing nets.
While plastic paving initiatives are happening in places like Missouri and Texas, the project in Hawaii is the first to use marine debris. It is designed to solve the islands’ unique exposure to discarded fishing gear, tourist waste and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which engulfs the island chain every few years. To date, 90 metric tons of plastic trash have been removed from the Pacific Ocean, and more than