BART Ditches Wood, Uses Recycled Plastic Rail Ties
Every time you recycle a bottle, you’re helping mass transit.
In San Francisco, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system is using plastic rail ties made of compacted grocery bags and plastic bottles to replace old, worn wooden ties. The plastic beams are said to last three times longer than wooden beams—the newer “green” beams, which are compiled of 2,800 plastic bags and 600 bottles, will last anywhere from 50 to 60 years, compared with a lifespan of 15 to 40 years of the wooden beams.
“It’s so much better than having them fill our landfills,” said BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver. It also helps keep trees from being cut down for the wooden beams, and it keeps creosote out of the environment—the wooden beams are dipped in a tar that is not environmentally friendly, while the plastic beams require no such reinforcement.
BART has already replaced 400 of the ties since 2005, and expects to finish replacing all of the wooden beams with the “green” beams within the next five to ten years
In my past life, I was a tree or something. If not a tree, something that grew old and didn't move very much. I'm pretty convinced of this.