MOSSEL BAY NEWS - SAICE is the learned society and professional home for almost 10 000 civil engineers, technologists and technicians.
The Southern Cape branch held its annual general meeting at the Dias Museum recently.
The main goal of this association is to mentor, learn, be involved and form partnerships in the industry to bring about positive change and remain relevant with technology.
Guest speakers at this function were Gareth Nel from MacRebur, a company building "plastic" roads and Laurie Barwell, who gave insight on the possibilities for a future port development in Mossel Bay.
'Plastic' road
Plastic was developed in the 1920s and exploded on to the market in 1940.
An estimated 1,7 million tons were manufactured in 1950 and more than 300 million tons in 2017, with less than 14% produced being recycled. About 8 million tons end up in our oceans annually and at this rate, there will be more plastic in the ocean in 2050, than fish.
In 2015, three Scottish friends decided to do something about potholes and the plastic pollution problem. Their objectives were to create asphalt additives, made by recycled plastic, to enhance the end performance of asphalt.
Research took three years and about 800 tests until a workable asphalt modification was established and MR products could be manufactured, using polymers.
The MR products are used as binding extenders to reduce the volume of bitumen required in an asphalt mixture.
By doing this, waste plastics going to landfill sites were reduced. Countries that have already started using this method are Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the USA, UK and now the first project is in South Africa at Jeffreys Bay.
In effect it is not really a plastic road, but recycled plastic is finally put to good use.
Mossel Bay Harbour
Laurie Barwell is a coastal engineer who grew up in Mossel Bay and, according to his LinkedIn profile, he has a "passion for developing and implementing integrated research and development programmes and projects in the field of natural resources and the environment.
A particular interest lies in the coastal zone as well as water technologies".
He explained the coastal dynamics of the two half-heart bays of Mossel Bay in relation to wave climate, long term coastline movement, wind and wind-blown sand, sand and the effect of climate change.
The photographs provided by the Mossel Bay Heritage Foundation showed clearly how the coastline of Mossel Bay has changed over time.
The development of the Port of Mossel Bay with the extended breakwater and all the constraints of further development were explained. Mossel Bay is the only port in the Southern Cape and can be used as a major key in the economic development of the region.
The interesting evening ended with the AGM.
Laurie Barwell.
Gareth Nel from MacRebur, a Scottish company building "plastic" roads all over the world.
The Southern Cape branch held its annual general meeting at the Dias Museum recently.
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