Using plastic to make roads: PMC to explore trial project

Plastic will first be used on roads with heavy traffic.

After the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) received a good report about one of its trial projects involving use of waste plastic in constructing small road stretches, the civic body has decided to further explore how plastic can be used in road construction.

The civic body will first use plastic on roads with heavy traffic flow before making it a regular feature in construction of tar roads.

“The use of plastic waste was done for the first time in the construction of a road in the city. It has been done in small stretches on 12 city roads and was used for the Dense Bitumen Macadam (DBM), just before the road was seal coated. Despite heavy rain this monsoon, the road stretches have performed well, giving us confidence to explore the use of plastic further,” said Rajendra Raut, Executive Engineer of PMC.

Raut said that shredded plastic between 2.36 mm and 600 microns was used for the road construction. The shredded plastic was heated to a high temperature and the powder made out of it was mixed with bitumen in a hot mixer, which was laid for road construction.

“The use of plastic would be made for the seal coating, which is the top-most layer of the tar road. Then it would be implemented across the city based on its performance,” said Raut, adding that the technology would be tried on roads with heavy traffic to check its sustainability. Among the roads where plastic was used include Bhagwat Road near Viakunth crematorium, HCMTR Road near Magapatta city, Koregaon Park Lane No. 3 and Deccan College Road, near Katraj Dairy, Kondhwa.

The plastic has been provided by Rudra Environmental Solutions (India) Ltd (RESIL). Shirish Phadtare of RESIL said they have learnt that the performance of roads made with use of plastic has been better. “We had urged the PMC to use the same technology for repairing potholes during monsoon so we can further study it. It is yet to be undertaken by the civic body,” he said.

Further trials on roads with heavy traffic and seal coating would provide complete performance assessment of the technology, Phadtare said, adding the use of plastic on tar road increases the road’s life by two years, increases the life of tyres and saves Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per sq km.