K.K.

Plastic Waste Management turns thousands of tons of waste plastic from India's
technology and IT hub into roads. They last longer than conventional roads and rid the
city of its excess plastic.

Plastic waste is collected from garbage bins across the city through a network of
municipal workers, rag pickers and their own employees. Then the plastic is shred into
tiny pieces and mixed with asphalt.

The company’s managing director says the idea came to him 10 years ago when various
organizations started anti-plastic campaigns, putting their plastic churning factories in
danger of being shut down.

[Ahmed Khan, K.K. Plastic Waste Management]:

"If plastic is not used properly, if it is used only in landfills, then there is no end for this.
Every day there is a generation of 10,000 tons of waste plastic and it would all go to
landfills, how much you can do that? There should be an end, and after filling the land it
will not degenerate or bio-degrade, and ultimately it will be a problem so this is the best
solution: to use it in road construction. Road construction, if it is fully used... all that
waste plastic generated can be embedded in the roads."

Khan said they have helped build more than 8,000 miles of roads, and it’s even possible
to completely use all the waste plastic in India to build more roads.

A roads expert says the process of mixing plastic waste in road construction serves the
dual purpose of getting rid of the plastic and enhancing the performance of the road.

[Professor C.E.G. Justo, Road Expert]:

"It (waste plastic) is mixed in the bituminous mix, in the hot mix plant and it forms a mix.
It does not really blend with it or does not dissolve with the bitumen, but it blends with it,
gets into some of the voids of the bituminous mix and makes it more resistant to
deterioration under wet weather conditions, or it can withstand the rainfall and the
deterioration in a better way than other roads.”

Plastic is considered an environmental hazard as it does not decompose and stays in the
environment for years, causing grave damage to fish, marine birds and cattle that are
choked to death after swallowing plastic bags.
Shimla, Jan 31 (IANS) Buoyed by the successful use of plastic waste to build three
stretches of road, the Himachal Pradesh government will now use all the plastic waste it
collected during a drive last month for road surfacing.

During the weeklong ‘Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao (remove polythene, save
environment)’ campaign carried out across the state, about 1,381 quintals of waste was
collected, a government spokesperson said.

“The entire plastic waste (1,381 quintals) would be used for laying plastic-bitumen mix
roads in the state. This waste would be sufficient to tar a stretch of 138 km,” said the
spokesperson.

The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board in collaboration with the Public
Works Department (PWD) has built three road stretches on a pilot basis by using
shredded plastic waste on the outskirts of Shimla.

The waste plastic such as carry bags, disposable cups, laminated plastics like pouches of
chips, pan masala, aluminium foil and packaging material used for biscuits, chocolates,
milk and grocery items was used in surfacing roads.

“The results have been good in the past four months as there has been no stripping or any
other major damage to the roads laid by using plastic-asphalt mix. Of course, the plastic
blend not only helps lowering the cost of tarring but also enhances the durability of roads
because of higher binding strength of plastic,” PWD superintending engineer Naresh
Sharma told IANS.

Explaining the rationale for using the waste plastic in road construction, he said if plastic
waste could be mixed up to 15 percent, this would lead to saving of equivalent quantity
of asphalt, reducing the overall construction cost.

“The plastic waste replaces 10 to 15 percent of the bitumen and thus saves approximately
Rs.35,000 to Rs.45,000 per km of a road stretch,” Sharma added.

Himachal Pradesh imposed on Oct 2, 2009, a ban on the production, storage, use, sale
and distribution of all types of polythene bags made of non-biodegradable materials.

The government is also planning to include all plastic materials like disposable plates,
cups and glasses in the ambit of the ban.

The ban on use of coloured polythene bags manufactured from recycled plastic was
initially imposed Jan 1, 1999. Later in 2004, the ban was imposed under Section 7(h) of
the State Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Rules on the use of small polythene bags
having thickness less than 70 microns and size less than 18″x12″.

But last year a total ban was imposed on the use of polythene bags of all types and sizes.
Before the partial implementation of the ban in 2004, polythene pollution was a major
problem in the state. During the monsoon, the rainwater brought along heaps of
polythene bags and other non-biodegradable material that choked most drains.