More than 73 metric tonnes of shredded plastic was used for road tarring in various local bodies in Ernakulam over the past one year, according to official estimates.
The government's Clean Kerala Company (CKC) collects shredded plastic from local bodies, and hands it over to the Public Works Department (PWD) and the engineering wing of the Department of Local Self Government for construction of polymerised roads.
As per the data available with the CKC, 73.6 metric tonnes of shredded plastic was used for construction of roads from April 2021 to March 2022. The second and third wave of the pandemic had affected the supply of shredded plastic.
CKC officials said the momentum had picked up at present, with more local bodies demanding shredded plastic. The contractors involved in the road construction works have to pay the CKC around ₹20 for a kg of shredded plastic.
Some of the local bodies that have resumed the use of shredded plastic for road construction from January include Muvattupuzha, Perumbavoor and Kothamangalam municipalities, and Ramamangalam, Thiruvaniyoor, Elanji, Kalady, Vengola, Avoly, Puthenvelikkara, and Edathala grama panchayats.
Puthevenlikkara grama panchayat topped the list of panchayats that bought the maximum quantity of shredded plastic from the CKC in March (over 430 kg) followed by Ramamangalam and Thiruvaniyoor local bodies. The Kochi Corporation used about 535 kg of shredded plastic in February to construct roads.
Shredded plastic is being supplied from the resource recovery facilities managed by the CKC in various blocks and municipality regions. In the Corporation and nearby regions, the plastic is supplied from the company's godowns in Maradu and Edayar. The government had asked the local bodies to construct at least 20% of new roads using plastic waste. The shredded plastic is mixed with bitumen for road laying. Shredded plastic and bitumen are mixed at 165-degree centigrade at tar mixing units and laid out on the road before it cools.
