Wokingham Borough Council and its highways contractor Volker Highways are to put in kerbs made from recycled plastic at three locations in the borough.
Last month Hampshire County Council said that its highway maintenance contractor, Skanska, was trialling plastic kerbs, as they are lighter to handle and so can be installed more quickly.
Initial locations for the Wokingham trials will be: Elm Road, Earley; Old Forest Road, Wokingham; and Easthampstead Road, Wokingham. These locations have been chosen as they are high-use areas, particularly by HGVs, where kerbs have previously been damaged.
The plastic kerbs will be installed in small stretches to see how they stand up to use.
The kerbs are made by Durakerb, part of the Econpro Group. Each Durakerb unit is made of the equivalent of 182 recycled plastic bottles and weighs 6kg.
Other local authorities are already using plastic kerbs. Cumbria County Council has been using Durakerb for more than 10 years. They can also be seen in certain locations in Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Ayrshire, Tameside and Caerphilly.
Wokingham borough councillor Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, executive member for highways and transport, said: “We are looking for ways to make our services greener and this solution allows us to find an effective use of recycled materials while carrying out important highway maintenance across our network.”
“Exploring further use of recycled products like these kerbstones are the type of changes we are looking into as we aim to be a carbon neutral borough by 2030,” added Cllr Gregor Murray, executive member for climate emergency.
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