A road in South Sioux City, Nebraska, now carries millions of discarded plastic bags beneath its surface. Completed in June 2025, the project incorporated about two million shredded bags directly into the top three inches of asphalt along a 4,000-foot stretch of Foundry Road near Siouxland Freedom Park. The initiative also includes an extension of the Al Bengtson Bicycle Trail, giving the local community a second piece of public infrastructure constructed with reclaimed materials.
The idea came from research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jamilla Teixeira, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, was already studying how waste plastic could be used in asphalt. Her research focuses on how these mixtures respond to cracking, rutting and moisture. South Sioux City later brought that work into a real road project.
