Road surfaces rely on bitumen, a petroleum-derived binder that holds the mineral aggregates in asphalt together. In 2018, the University of California San Diego tested a different approach on a section of campus roadway, using recycled plastic materials in place of petroleum-based bitumen. The project simultaneously addressed the growing volume of discarded plastic and the ongoing need to maintain roads. MacRebur, instead of treating plastic as just a material to be disposed of or recycled, developed a process for blending it into asphalt mixtures. As per the university’s October 2018 news report , Gary Oshima, a construction commodity manager at UC San Diego, discovered the technology through a Facebook post featuring a TED Talk by MacRebur co-founder and chief executive Toby McCartney. This led Oshima to contact the company, which found a receptive response in their desire to make their debut in America.
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