Shisalanga Construction is the first company in South Africa to begin paving roads out of recycled plastics such as milk bottles. Their innovative product compound is said to be more water-resistant and reliable than traditional asphalt. The business model of the company facilitates the reduction of large quantities of waste, as each ton of asphalt paved contains approximately 118 to 128 milk bottles.

Just 16 % of plastic in South Africa is recycled. The remainder of the plastic is disposed of in landfills, where it may end up in rivers (due to wind, littering, poor waste management, and overflowing landfills) and finally in the ocean. It has been shown that  8 million metric tons of garbage end up in the ocean.

Shisalanga uses high-density polyethylene, a dense plastic that is pelletized at a nearby recycling facility. The pellets are then heated until they dissolve at 190 degrees Celsius, then mixed with additives. They substitute 6% of the bitumen binder in asphalt, resulting in a ton of asphalt containing 118 to 128 bottles. The material is said to be more resilient and water-resistant than traditional asphalt, with enduring temperatures ranging from 70 degrees Celsius to -22 degrees Celsius.  Although the expense is comparable to current approaches, the estimates suggest that the product will help reduce costs in the long term because the roads will last longer than the national average of 20 years.

Shisalanga Construction was the first company in South Africa to use recycled plastic to pave a portion of the road in KwaZulu-Natal. They had repaved more than 400 meters of the road with asphalt made from nearly 40,000 recycled two-liter plastic milk bottles. The company has also applied to the South African National Roads Agency for permission to lay 200 tons of plastic tarmac on the country's main highway.