Plastic waste now used for road construction in Kalaburagi

Finely ground plastic is being mixed with bitumen

The new road from Tegaltippi to Kandampalli in Chincholi taluk in Kalaburagi district is being laid using plastic waste mixed with bitumen.— Photo: Arun Kulkarni

A group of engineers have found a new use for plastic waste, which poses a serious health hazard to the environment.

Those in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department and attached to the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) implementation division in Kalaburagi district have started using plastic waste for construction of roads taken up under the programme. They say that it not only extends the life of roads, but also prevents the environmental damage due to the unscientific disposal of plastic.

Suryakant Shringeri, Superintendent Engineer, PMGSY, Panchayat Raj Engineering Division, said in Kalaburagi on Thursday that the technology of using plastic waste, which was in vogue in bigger cities such as Bengaluru, was being introduced for the first time in other districts on an experimental basis. It has been used for the construction of a 6-km stretch of the 14.7 km-long road connecting Tegaltippi to Kandampalli village passing through Kadikeshwar, Keralli and Sarvar Darga in Chincholi taluk falling under the Sedam Assembly constituency represented by Minister of State for Medical Education Sharanprakash Patil.

Assistant Executive Engineer Ravikumar Maka, who was instrumental in introducing the new technology in his sub-division, told

The Hindu that finely ground plastic is being mixed with molten bitumen before it was laid on the road.

Mr. Maka said that although the cost of road construction was unlikely to come down due to the use of plastic waste, the use of bitumen had come down by eight per cent.

Also, one of the proven advantages of using plastic was that the surface of the road would be smoother and the road would not crack up. “The technology will be introduced on other roads in phases,” he said.