I wonder how this substance handle the freeze thaw cycles of the northern climates. It seems that the porous nature works against it in those situations (unless it\'s elastic enough to deform and reform). Can gizmag or the developers at Temple reply?

Questions: 1. In the formation phase, does the heated plastic release any toxic vapors? 2. When used as a surface, does the plastic pollute the rainwater that runs through it? While I respect any attempts at dealing with the problem that the invention and widespread use of plastic has created, the stuff is so bad for the planet that it is almost not worth trying to work with. It might be better just to eject the crap into space. (And I would like to add, \"along with it\'s creators\".)

good idea well worth pursuing, how the new material can filter out pollutants without becoming blocked will be a big problem

For walkways and light-duty pavement this could make sense. One of the challenges with pervious surfaces (including those made pervious by cracking) is that when water reaches the subgrade soils they begin to break down (the subgrade is typically compacted before pavement is placed). As the subsoils become less rigid they fail to adequately support the pavement, causing it to crack even more. A downward spiral starts that can result in replacing both the pavement and the subgrade. So for heavy-duty use, probably a no-go. Otherwise it may have a place.

I\'m also wondering Bill\'s second question; given high amounts of plastic-based endocrine disruptors already detected throughout ocean, I would like to know that the water they\'re filtering into the soil isn\'t further spreading BPA throughout our environment.

I\'d be really interested in seeing the long term (heck 6 - 18 months would be a start) studies of what is being leached from the plastisoil into the ground water. Sometimes, you need to be sure what you\'re trading... poisoning ground water may be worse than controlling run-off rainwater other ways. Engineers tend to measure everything... have the studies been done, are they available?

If water gets through it, that means grasses and weeds can sprout upwards through it too... Perhaps this needs a weed filter placed underneath?

I had the same idea, only I called it Trashphalt instead of PlastiSoil.

the plastic probly wouldnt do well in winter i use bottles and fill them with water and freeze them and they crack. they have to use the certain platics because some are thicker then others the ones that wont work are milk jugs they crack after one time being froze but the thicker ones like pop bottles dont but after lick 40 to 50 times they do

It might work in geographical areas with warm climates.