That is because rubber can partially replace bitumen, the binding agent used to hold the crushed stones together in ordinary asphalt.

ECONOMIST: Quieter traffic: When the rubber hits the road | The

And since the fruit has a high pectin content (around 25%) its offers the benefit of being a natural thickening and binding agent.

FORBES: The Superfruit That's Truly Super: Baobab Boosts Health, Poor African Families & Gin

According to his company's website, Mr Dini's industrial sized 3D printer uses sand and a special binding agent to create a "marble like material" stronger than cement.

BBC: Landscape House

It is made from a blend of crushed rock, rubber and polyurethane, a synthetic plastic that replaces bitumen as the binding agent and allows even bigger pores in the road surface.

ECONOMIST: Quieter traffic: When the rubber hits the road | The

And because the company uses capsules rather than beads, it can mix them with a binding agent and print its electronic ink on to almost any surface, just as though it were real ink.

ECONOMIST: Showing off