In Mexico, the stretch of road is 2.5 miles long and was made using 1.7 tons of recycled pastic.
The plastic was a constituent of modified asphalt. The aim of the project is to solve the problem of what to do with plastic waste, instead of letting it accumulate in the ocean.
For some reason, the modified aspahlt reminded me of another advance in tech: a super-slick coating for toilets that reduces the amount of water required to flush.
The synthetic coating is applied with two spray treatments and could help drought-stricken areas deal with a lack of potable water.
Now, getting into the story ideas, this really does pave the way for all sorts of technological advances around sustainability. If someone can think about it, it can be invented. There’s a reason forward thinking companies work with sci-fi writers to consult with them about what the future might bring.
Getting meta, there could be a story about a sci-fi writer who comes up with all sorts of strategies/technologies that help save the planet, backed by a large corporation who develops these ideas and releases them into the world, seeming to care about saving the planet. The twist could come about when it’s discovered the corporation/leader of the corporation has used the accumulated goodwill to release an AI which places environmental protection above all else. This could turn into a classic AI overlord situation, with humans seen as the number one threat to the environment. Terminator, anyone?
Or, the sci-fi writer could be from the future and is merely pointing humanity in the direction they were already headed, accelerating the process. Another agent comes from the future and tells the writer that the world has become worse off because humans never appreciated the imporatnce of the interventions and therefore found ways to continue to destroy the environment, taking it beyond repair. At the end the writer would have to go back and try again.
