Coimbatore Corporation sells 19 tonnes of seized plastic goods

The plastic goods will be mixed with bitumen to lay roads

Coimbatore Corporation has disposed of the 19 tonnes of banned plastic goods it seized over the last year.

Sources in the civic body said that it sold a week ago the plastic goods, mostly carry bags, to a Dindigul-based private company, which will mix it with bitumen to lay roads.

₹8 a kg

After coming to know about the company and its association with other local bodies, the Corporation sold the 19 tonnes at ₹ 8 a kg, netting more than ₹ 1 lakh, the sources said.

The Corporation had seized the one-time use plastic goods that the State government had banned January 1, 2019 onwards and they included carry bags, spoons and plastic-coated paper cups.

Sources in the company said it would segregate and shred the plastic goods, mix it with bitumen at a certain proportion and then add a patented stabiliser to produce polymer modified bitumen (PMB) cubes of 11 kg each.

The seized plastic that the Corporation handed over to the company would help it produce around 300 such cubes, which would then be mixed with pre-heated bitumen to lay roads.

The sources said the company had supplied to the PMB cubes to contractors engaged to lay rural roads under various Central and State government schemes.

They also said that the Corporation had also approached the company to supply the cubes to its contractors for lay such roads in Coimbatore.