Railway sleepers set to save the environment

RAILWAY sleepers made from a revolutionary recycled composite are set to challenge the traditional wooden varieties thanks to a pioneering Yorkshire designed eco-friendly initiative.

Halifax-based i-plas is using its innovative composite material to create a new railway sleeper that will benefit the environment and aid sustainability targets.

As well as being recycled, i-plas sleepers will have a minimum 30 year life cycle, do not rot, twist or warp, become porous or degrade – thereby reducing maintenance costs for Network Rail.

i-plas is the only company that can manufacture the material, using its specialist knowledge and equipment.

It is produced using a unique blend of plastics from various waste streams that can be prepared and tailored to meet specific requirements and applications.

The material can out-perform wood in a wide range of construction and building applications and is both economic and recyclable.

Howard Waghorn, managing director of i-plas, said, “i-plas is so adaptable and is a recycled building material which can be used to replace preformed concrete products, steel or timber for specific applications.

“In this instance it will replace wooden railway sleepers. This is a huge British innovation and one which we are truly proud. Network Rail is certainly visionary to grasp this new concept and drive it forward.”

Giles Whitman from the company’s backers Foresight Group – an alternative asset manager specialising in backing “green” companies -, said, “Recycling is key to creating a more sustainable society and i-plas is a leading player in creating high performance products and materials from plastic that would otherwise have simply been wasted.”

The UK currently sends 27 million tonnes of household waste to landfill each year. According to i-plas if Network Rail converted the 200,000 timber sleepers it currently replaces each year to the alternative sleepers a a minimum of 80,000 tonnes of plastic waste would be diverted from landfill over the next five years.

The development of the rail sleeper for Network Rail received financial support from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme (KTP) creating a partnership between i-plas and Sheffield University to improve the understanding of the i-plas material’s performance capabilities and suitability for this safety specific project.