Think Chicago has crappy roads? You should check out the streets in St. Louis, Missouri.
The outer road along Interstate 44 near Six Flags St. Louis is freshly paved -- with asphalt made from recycled swine manure, reports the AP.
Pace Construction Co., together with Innoventor (an engineering and design firm), is responsible for creating what is believed to be the first asphalt ever created from pig poop.
And while the animal waste may stink, the idea doesn't.
"If this works out, it's a win-win situation for everyone," Karlton Krause, a hog producer from northern Iowa, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "For farmers, it produces revenue. And at the same time, it helps clean the environment. We're taking a waste product and finding a value-added purpose for it."
Each pig can produce up to 8 pounds of waste a day, reports the Post-Dispatch. However, with the help of agricultural engineering professor Yuanhui Zhang at University of Illinois, Innoventor founder Kent Schien developed a process that converts the animal waste into a bio-oil that is used in asphalt binder.
The road will see plenty of use once the amusement park opens. If the asphalt proves that it's up to snuff, hog producers may have a new "green" source of revenue.
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Soon, cars will be zipping along the poopy pavement, and it will be a great example of "Waste makes haste."
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
