Eli5 why we can’t melt plastic down and use it to add to asphalt

Question

I keep reading about how most plastic can’t be recycled and goes to the landfills instead.

With our technology, why can’t we melt it down, using some sort of scrubbers/filters to capture the emissions, and add it to asphalt or other industrial uses?

At the very least it seems like we could reuse that plastic for non food items that are typically used once and tossed.

In: 9

Answer 1

Melting plastic down is a messy process at the best of times. When you’ve got a truckload of assorted plastics with other detritus mixed in, you’d get a slushy mess that started breaking down and charring before it melted properly. Once it starts burning, you definitely won’t be getting a useful liquid out.

If you’re going to make a facility capable of coping with burned plastic, just make a power plant that runs off of the stuff. It’s already been done.

Using plastic as an aggregate, so adding it shredded but otherwise more-or-less unaltered, would be way more doable.