New Delhi: As Maharashtra gears up for the state-wide plastic ban from June 23, the state government on Thursday issued a government resolution (GR) directing the use of waste plastic and industrially-recycled plastic in all road construction and repair works. This step is to effectively utilise the increasing amount of plastic waste that has been collected by the civic bodies ahead of the ban in their respective areas. The Mumbai civic body has already collected 1.42 lakh kg of plastic waste, whereas Pune Civic body has collected more than 32,587 kilograms of plastic.
According to the GR issued by the PWD, the roads made of plastic waste will undergo a quality test after every three months and a report will be submitted to the state government every year on the status of plastic waste collected to build roads.
To make the implementation of the rule effective, the GR as directed that the chief engineer of each respective area will be supervising junior officers on whether they are using waste plastic or not in asphalting work.
The use of plastic waste to construct roads will increase the quality of the roads, moreover, it is cost effective. The roads built with plastic-asphalt tar are better water-resistance, requires less maintenance as well, read the GR.
Pune, the city of Maharashtra has already started using plastic waste for the construction of roads. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has already tied up with the Rudra Environmental Solution (India) Ltd and have given them a contract of building plastic roads across the city.
Till date, the city, which generates over 200 tonnes of plastic waste per day, has already used 3,343 kilos of plastic waste in building 1,430 kilometres of roads in the last two years.
From Pune To India: The Status Of Plastic Roads
India, a country that produces 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily, has built one lakh kilometres of roads in at least 11 states using discarded plastic. This eco-friendly revolution started in 2015 when the Centre made it mandatory for all road developers in the country to use plastic waste for road construction after Padma Sri Rajagopalan Vasudevan, Plastic Man of India, gave the world an idea of building roads by recycling plastic waste.
Currently, cities like Chennai, which has used 1,60,000 (1.6 Lakh) kilos of plastic waste to build 1.035 kilometres of roads, Indore, which has used 3,343 kilos of plastic waste in building 1,430 kilometres of roads in the last two years and Surat that has used 90,000 kilos of plastic waste to lay 15.91 kilometres of roads are some of the successful examples in the country.
