Date:09/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/09/stories/2003060907810300.htm

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Plastic waste can be used to ensure road durability'

By Afshan Yasmeen

BANGALORE June 8. Did you know that plastic waste, especially the non-biodegradable kind, is precious? Yes, it can be used to increase the durability of roads.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), which has initiated recycling of dry waste as part of its new cleanliness campaign, is also ``seriously examining'' a proposal for using plastic waste to asphalt roads.

A City-based firm, KK Plastic Waste Management Pvt. Ltd., and a team of engineering experts, led by C.E.G.Justo from Bangalore University, have developed a new way of using such waste for road reconstruction.

On a pilot basis, the firm has already laid over 35 km of roads here, and experts from Bangalore University Centre for Transportation Engineering have tested the strength and durability of the roads. The Central Road Research Institute has evaluated the experiment, and the results are ``encouraging," according to the Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, M.R.Sreenivas Murthy.

The firm had submitted a proposal to the Mahanagara Palike to sell its patented plastic waste compound, ``KK Polyblend'', for asphalting roads, Mr. Murthy told The Hindu here on Sunday.

He said that the firm would be allowed to take plastic waste from the City's daily garbage collection.

K.Ahmed Khan and K.Rasool Khan, proprietors of the firm, claim to be pioneers of the technology in India. "It has been used in Canada, Brazil, etc., but we are the first to use it in India,'' they said.

Procedure

According to them, melted plastic is mixed with bitumen in a particular ratio. The plastic acts as a strong ``binding agent'' for tar, making the asphalt last longer. A stretch of road made with plastic waste mix is found to be three times better than conventional roads.

The company buys plastic waste from rag pickers at Rs.6 per kg. It is then segregated, pulverised and added to bituminous concrete mixes in a blender designed by the company.

They say the technology will lead to less road repair. Rainwater will not seep through because of the plastic in the tar. And as each km of road with an average width requires over two tonnes of polyblend, using plastic will help reduce non-biodegradable waste, they said.

Study

In 1997, a team of students at the RV College of Engineering did a study and used the polyblend to fill potholes on RV Road. Prof. Justo and A.Veeraraghavan from the Centre for Transportation Engineering reviewed it.

They noted that using processed plastic in bitumen reduced the amount of bitumen and increased road life, roughly, three times. But such roads cost more than conventional ones.