The Dutch province of Friesland is re-purposing toilet paper to pave a bike highway, marking this design the world's first bike lane to be paved with the material.
The Netherlands is an incredibly bike-friendly country, boasting an enormous 35,000 kilometers of bike paths. Although the investment in bicycle roadways leads to a greener future, the country continues to seek innovative ways to reduce its environmental foot print. This road way, paved by recycled toilet paper, serves as an iteration of this philosophy, offering a greener alternative to traditional methods of paving.
The roadway stretches an approximate 0.6 miles long and connects to the town of Stiens, serving as a valuable addition to the community, while re-purposing the 18,000 tons of toilet paper that is used in the Netherlands, each year.
What's Driving This Trend
- Eco-friendly Pavements
- Innovative road-paving methods that utilize unconventional, eco-friendly materials could be a potential opportunity for startups.
- Sustainability in Transportation
- Sustainable transportation solutions like eco-friendly bike highways could provide new business opportunities for companies to invest in.
- Green Infrastructure
- Building and improving more eco-friendly infrastructure, such as green bike highways, can be a disruptive innovation opportunity for the construction industry.
Who This Affects Most
- Transportation
- Developing sustainable transport solutions like eco-friendly bike highways can provide new business opportunities for transportation companies.
- Construction
- Implementing eco-friendly infrastructure such as green bike highways and utilizing unconventional, eco-friendly materials could provide ample opportunities for the construction industry to innovate and pivot toward sustainable building solutions.
- Waste Management
- Working on improving recycling and waste-to-energy technologies can help repurpose materials such as toilet paper and reduce environmental impact by repurposing waste into infrastructure materials.
