Plastic Waste in Road Construction in India

Melting down old plastic waste from ocean and landfills to building roads. It has significantly smaller carbon footprint than traditional road construction materials used because of its longer lifespan and reduced transportation of material involved.

Source of Plastic Waste :

• Food wrappers and containers, Bottle and cups, plastic bags, straw, toys, households and industrial products etc.

• largest Plastic Pollution in ocean due to fishing gear (including traps and nets).

• Sewage plastic waste, Medical plastic waste and other types of plastic waste.

Status of Plastic Waste :

• Plastic products have become an integral part of our daily life as a result of which the polymer is produced at a massive scale worldwide.

• On an average, production of plastic globally crosses 150 million tonnes per year.

• According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India generates approximately 9.4 million tonnes per annum plastic waste.

Plastic Road Construction :

• Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) garbage is used in creating new polymer modified asphalt road.

• Mixing of aggregate (sand and gravel/stone chips), bitumen and shredded plastic.

• The bond between polymer molecules and bitumen become stronger and the removal of bonded bitumen becomes difficult.

• The plastic can be used in the construction of roads -

+ Film (Carry bags, Cups) thickness upto 60 micron (PE, PP and PS).

+ Hard foams (PS), any thickness.

+ Soft foams (PE and PP), any thickness.

+ Laminated plastics with thickness up to 60 micron (aluminium coated also) packing materials used for biscuits, chocolates, etc.

+ Some other plastics with specific condition.

Note : Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) or Flux sheets should not be used.

• Thin Coating of plastic at the surface acted as a good binder.

Benefits of Plastic Road :

 It has three Dimensional Benefits -

1. Durability of Road

2. Environment Friendly

3. Economically Sound

1. Durability of Road

• The life of plastic roads are approximately three times longer than conventional roads. (e.g. Netherlands used plastic waste for road construction, which is claimed to last 50 years).

• These are found to be more resistant to erosion from weather and vehicle use.

• The number of new potholes formed is reduced.

• It reduces porosity, absorption of moisture.

2. Environment Friendly :

• It has lower carbon emissions than traditional road construction materials.

• Plastic roads cooler in all seasons.

• It has reduced sound pollution.

• It could be reduce air, water and land pollution.

3. Economically Sound :

• It is a cheaper than traditional road construction cost.

• Plastic Waste are easily available.

• Increase unskilled and semi-skilled employment.

Plastic Roads in India :

• India has built more than 21,000 miles of roads using waste plastic.

• A stretch of road has recently been constructed using plastic waste on NH-48 near Dhaula Kuan.

• The plastic roads more than 1031 km of rural roads have been laid by District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Tamil Nadu, distributing a minimum of 40 Kms for each district. It was extended to all the 29 districts of Tamil Nadu.

• The plastic waste bitumen road are also laid in various states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Pondicherry, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

• Government of India :

+ The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has made it mandatory for road developers to use waste plastic along with bituminous mixes for  road construction to overcome the problem of disposal of plastic waste in India's urban centres.

+ The developers will now have to use plastic waste along with hot mixes for constructing bitumen roads within 50 km of periphery of any city that has a population of over 5 lakh.

+ In case of non-availability of waste plastic the developer has to seek ministry's approval for constructing bitumen only roads. 

Our current approaches to production, use, and disposal of plastic have not been Sustainable. Appropriate use and disposal, particularly recycling ; for industry by material reduction and by designing products for reuse and/or  end-of-life recyclability and for governments and policymakers by setting standards and targets, by defining appropriate product labelling to inform and incentivise change and by funding relevant academic research and technological developments.

References

Yojana

Pib

GoI

News Papers

Also Read : Plastic Waste - Issues & Management