March 9, 2021 A traditional asphalt road like this one may look the same and perform better with plastic waste baked into it. Shutterstock Close Authorship A road running through Accra, Ghana’s capital, looks like any other blacktop. Yet what most drivers don’t realize is that the asphalt under them contains a slurry of used plastics — shredded and melted bags, bottles and snack wraps — that otherwise were destined for a landfill. The impetus for many similar road projects underway in Ghana was an ambitious plan announced by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2018. It calls for Ghanaians to strive for a circular model, to recycle and reuse as much plastic waste as they produce each year — roughly 1.1 million tons — by 2030.