Nepal explores paving with plastic

Cars speeding along a smooth, black-coloured street in Nepal's Pokhara are also driving over heaps of discarded plastic, transformed into an ingredient in road construction.

Nepal's urban areas generate about 5,000 tonnes of solid waste per day, according to the World Bank, of which 13 percent is plastic waste dumped in landfills. For a group of young Nepali entrepreneurs, the vast accumulation of this low-value plastic waste presented an opportunity.

Since the early 2000s, neighbouring India has been leading the world in building a network of plastic roads, even making the usage of plastic waste mandatory in roads near large cities in 2015. A growing number of countries are experimenting with it, including nearby Bhutan and Bangladesh. Studies show that roads paved with plastic waste can be twice as durable as normal roads.