reuse plastic

Bengaluru

BBMP

KIA

plastic waste

Last month, BIAL started translocating trees to make way for the new approach road to the airport

Solid Waste Management

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Bangalore

By Akhila DamodaranOf the many ways to recycle and, this seems to be the most talked about one. Reusing plastic to build roads. Although the jury is still out on this, the BruhatMahanagara Palike () has received a proposal from the Kempegowda Interna­tional Airport Bengaluru () requesting the use ofto make a road.This ties in very well with the BBMP’s drive to seize plastic from the city. If you’re wondering what the civic agency will do with the seized plastic, one of the many options could be to give it to KIA to construct a road.KIA has asked for 50 tonnes of plastic to construct a road. It has also asked for permission to set up stalls across the city to collect plastic for this purpose, says a BBMP official.This is not the first time plastic is being used to lay roads. Cunningham Road, MG Road and Mysore Road already have plastic as a binding agent.Randeep D, Additional Commis­sioner (Finance, IT, SWM, Welfare), BBMP, says that they received the proposal from KIA a week ago and are open to considering it. “We could give them low-value plastic that we seized, The Palike is yet to decide if they will be selling the plastic at a cost.”However, when BM contacted the airport authority, it said that the plan is still at a nascent stage and they would reveal the details later.Since January this year, the BBMP has collected 3,921 kg of plastic and a penalty of Rs 16.12 lakh. On July 18, 4,070 kg of plastic was seized. However, they are yet to decide what to do with the seized plastic. The collected plastic is now being stocked insites. Randeep adds that that the civic body is also stocking up plastic for Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) for the upcoming KPCL (Karnataka Power Corporation Limited) plant.Dr Ravikumar Surpur, Special Commissioner (projects), says, “We will explore different avenues to dispose the plastic. Some of them are to construct roads and interlocking tiles. Some people wanted to use plastic and plastic bags for art. We are trying to ensure that the plastic does not enter the food chain,” says Dr Surpur.In October 2017, the Urban Department and BBMP met and the then CM Siddaramaiah and BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad decided that plastic should be used for roads. The BBMP also signed a MoU with KK Plastic Waste Management, to lay roads, which expired in 2013. K Ahmed Khan, Managing Director of the company, believes that plastic roads can solve the problem of plastic pollution. He says when plastic is used, roads are five to six times cheaper. “It takes 1.6 tonnes of plastic to lay one km of road. After the MoU expired, we couldn’t do any further work. The use of plastic increases the lifespan of the road by two to three times,” says Khan.Plastic roads have also been laid in other cities in India but are they good? V Ravichander, an urban expert, says, “It has been established that 8 per cent plastic is good in the construction of roads. It is better to use plastic on roads than allow plastic to reach lakes.” Professor MN Sreehari, traffic advisor and consultant, says if plastic is added to the bitumen, it will increase the durability of the roads. “Plastic should be processed into granular bits and heated up. As it is ductile (pliable) in nature, it makes roads more durable. If crumb rubber is also added, it will increase the elasticity, improve density and prevent flooding to some extent.”Prof. Amarnath (retd) of theUniversity adds, “Using shredded plastic is good while paving roads. Plastic can substitute bitumen by 8 to 10 % without compromising on the quality of the mix. Studies prove that the life of such roads increases by 160 to 200%.”