Plastic roads

What is Plastic Road

• Plastic roads are made entirely of plastic or of composites of plastic with other
materials. Plastic roads are different from standard roads in the respect that
standard roads are made from asphalt concrete, which consists of mineral
aggregates and asphalt.
• Currently, there are no records of regular roads made purely of plastic. Plastic
composite roads, however, have existed and demonstrate characteristics superior
to regular asphalt concrete roads; specifically, they show better wear resistance.  
• The implementation of plastics in roads also opens a new option for recycling post-
consumer plastics. Australia, Indonesia, India, the United Kingdom, the United
States, and many other countries have used technology that can incorporate plastic
waste into an asphalt mix.
• The plastic waste items that can be used for road construction are various items like
plastic carry bags, plastic cups, plastic packaging for potato chips, biscuits,
chocolates, etc.
Plastic road construction process

• the various steps of plastic road construction are listed below.

• Collecting waste plastics, including plastic carry bags, cups, soft and
hard foams, and laminated plastics.
• Cleaning it by washing.
• Shredding it to a uniform size.
• Melting the waste plastics at 165°C, and blending them with hot
aggregates and bitumen, and using this mixture to lay the road.
• The entire process is very simple. The plastic waste material is first
shredded into small pieces using a shredding machine.
• Then, the aggregate mix is heated at 165°c and transferred to the mixing
chamber, and the bitumen is heated to 160°c to result in a good binding.
• It is important to monitor the temperature during heating.
• The shredded plastic waste is then added to the aggregate. It gets coated
uniformly over the aggregate within 30 to 60 seconds, giving an oily look.
• The plastic waste coated aggregate is mixed with hot bitumen and the
resulting mix is used for road construction. The road laying temperature is
between 110°c to 120°c.
• The roller used has a capacity of 8 tons.
Objectives of Plastic Road

• The primary objective of plastic roads is to reduce plastic waste, bags, bottles,

etc. Not all plastic waste is recycled, as even the recyclable waste is just too
much to reuse 100%. But bituminous roads are continuously being built and can
incorporate extremely large quantities of plastic waste. Saving in cost is a bonus.
• The expected lifetime of the plastic road is two to three times as long as that of
traditional road paving.
• The expected construction time of a new road will be reduced by approximately
70%.
• The plastic road is four times as light in weight compare to traditional road
structures.
• The plastic road is 100% circular and is made from recycled plastic as much as
possible.
• The roads constructed using waste plastic, popularly known as Plastic Roads.
• They are found to perform better compared to those constructed with conventional bitumen.
• The IndianCentre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE) has been promoting the use of plastic waste to construct asphalt
roads.
Disadvantage Of Plastic Road

• Toxic present in the co-mingled plastic wastes would start leaching.

• But the presence of chlorine will definitely release HCL gas.
Plastic Road in India
• Chennai was among the first cities globally to adapt the technology in a big way
when the municipality commisioned 1000km of plastic roads in 2004. Since then all
major municipalities in India have experimented with the technology including
Pune, Mumbai, Surat, Indore, Delhi, Lucknow etc.
• Chennai: While plastic roads may be a new concept in many parts of India, Chennai
has been experimenting with it since 2011. Chennai has used nearly 1,600 tonnes
of plastic waste to construct 1,035.23 kilometers length of roads in recent years,
which include N.S.C Bose road, Halls road, Ethiraj Silai Street, and Sardar Patel
Street.
• Pune: Using bitumen technology on waste plastic, the Pune Municipal Corporation
constructed a 150-meter stretch of Bhagwat lane at Navi Peth near Vaikunth
Crematorium in 2016. The other trial patches in Pune include Dattawadi Kaka
Halwai Lane, Katraj Dairy, Magarpatta City HCMTR Road, Kavde Mala Road,
Koregaon Park Lane No 3, and Yeravada Sadal Baba Darga Road from Chandrama
Chowk.
Plastic Road in India
• Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur Utility and Services Company (JUSCO), which is a subsidiary
company of Tata Steel, constructed a 12-15 kms road in the steel city as well as Tata Steel
Works using plastic road, including a nearly 1km stretch in Ranchi, 500m stretch each in
Dhurwa and Morabadi, 3km of roads in Chas and Jamtara each and 500m stretch in
Giridih.
• Indore: Dating 2014, the Madhya Pradesh Rural Road Development Authority (MPRRDA)
has constructed around 35 km of roads in 17 districts with plastic waste.
• Surat: The idea of using plastic-bitumen mix was executed in January 2017. The problem
of potholes significantly reduced as no cracks developed in areas where roads were
layered with waste plastic.
• The technology has penetrated deeply and has found application even in far flung areas
such as Meghalaya, where a village converted 430kgs of plastic waste into a kilometer
long road in 2018.
Roads laid with plastic soon to be a reality in
vishakapatnam in Andhra pradesh
GVMC plans to launch a pilot project in which plastic roads will be laid
in five zones.
Work to lay roads will be launched,where in 4.5KM of roads will be laid
in VSP&anakapalle at average cost of RS1.3crore.
Out of the 1,150 tonnes of waste in vishakaptnam generates per day.
8% is made up of plastic(7% makes up of carry bags used by small shops
and vendors)
Conclusion
• The generation of waste plastics is increasing day by day.

• The major polymers, namely  polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene show adhesion
property in their molten state.

• Plastics will increase the melting point of the bitumen. Hence, the use of waste plastics for
pavement is one of the best methods for easy disposal of waste plastics.

• The use of the innovative technology not only strengthened the road construction but also
increased the road life as well as creating a source of income.