Tonnes of seized plastic waste to go under roads There is only one contractor who provides plastic mix for roads; civic body hoping for others to come forward Continued from page 01 The method has been adopted for road- building in 11 states.
The experiment began in Chennai, when Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a professor from Maduraiu2019s Thiagarajar College of Engineering, created the method of building roads by recycling plastic waste. After the Centreu2019s 2015 order made use of plastic waste in road construction mandatory, many metro cities including Chennai, Pune, Indore, Jamshedpur, adopted the method.
The method was tried in Dadar in 2014 but the BMC ( Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) did not adopt it. In 2018, it made the Du2019monte Park road extension in Bandra west using the method. The step has been deemed successful as the road is in good condition. u201c While the stretch measures not more than 100 metres and is not a very busy road, it is in good condition after two years,u201d said Asif Zakaria, Corporator from Bandra.
There is tonnes of plastic waste lying unused in the cityu2019s godowns.
u201c There is 84,602 kg plastic, seized in June 2018 during a drive, in BMCu2019s godown. It has all types of banned plastic material,u201d said an officer from BMCu2019s Market department.
After an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of it, the BMC now wants to build roads with it. u201c There are 12 approved asphalt plants. Road contractors can take material only from them. As per the guidelines, we have instructed them to use 8 per cent of plastic in the bitumen,u201d said a senior BMC officer.
How does it work? The plastic has to be of the category mentioned by the Indian Roads Congressu2019s guidelines. It has to be cleaned, dried, shredded and then heated up to 165u00b0 C. Next, it is added to the bitumen mix, which is also heated up to 160u00b0 C. This final mix is used for constructing roads.
The only vendor providing this mix is a Pune- based company which buys plastic from rag pickers or small vendors, processes it and then supplies it to plants. BMC officers claim that the vendor can provide enough material to all 12 asphalt plants. u201c Once preparation of the mixture starts, other vendors from the city will come forward,u201d said an officer.
Only Low or High- Density Polyethylene, Polyethylene Terephthalate ( PET) and Polyurethane can be used in road construction, which includes carry bags, sacks, milk pouches, bin lining, cosmetic, detergent bottles, bottle caps, drinking water bottles, household articles, etc.
Water bottles, credit cards, toys, pipes, electrical fittings, furniture, folders, pens, medical disposable made up of Polyvinyl Chloride ( PVC) and food trays, egg boxes, disposable cups, protective packaging from Polystyrene ( PS) canu2019t be used for road- construction as they release lethal levels of toxins. Also, black- coloured plastic waste is a result of repeated recycling and is not recommended for roads.
The Du2019monte Park road extension has been deemed a successful experiment.
PIC/ ANURAG AHIRE u2018 There is 84,602 kg plastic, seized in June 2018 during a drive, in BMCu2019s godown. It has all types of banned plastic materialu2019 A BMC officer
