Polythene bags for the construction of roads: Isn’t it amazing?

A week long anti-polythene campaign yielded enough plastic to tar a stretch of 138 kilometers in the north Indian state

The Public Works Department of Himachal Pradesh has started constructing roads with plastic and polythene waste/ Photo credit: Tripcrazed

of Himachal Pradesh. Pilots indicate that these roads are cost effective and durable. During the weeklong ‘Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao (remove polythene, save environment)’ campaign carried out across the state in December, about 1,381 quintals of waste was collected, a government spokesperson said.

“The entire plastic waste (1,381 quintals) would be used for laying plastic-bitumen mix roads in the state. This waste would be sufficient to tar a stretch of 138 km,” the spokesperson said.

The waste plastic such as carry bags, disposable cups and laminated plastics like pouches of chips, pan masala, aluminium foil and packaging material used for biscuits, chocolates, and milk and grocery items was used in surfacing roads.

It is said that the plastic blend not only helps lowering the cost of tarring but also enhances the durability of roads because of higher binding strength of plastic. It is also said that if plastic waste could be mixed up to 15%, this would lead to saving of equivalent quantity of asphalt, reducing the overall construction cost.“The plastic waste replaces 10% to 15% of the bitumen and thus saves approximately Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000 per km of a road stretch,” PWD superintending engineer Naresh Sharma said.

Himachal Pradesh imposed on October 2, 2009, a ban on the production, storage, use, sale and distribution of all types of polythene bags made of non-biodegradable materials. The government is also planning to include all plastic materials like disposable plates, cups and glasses in the ambit of the ban.

The ban on use of coloured polythene bags manufactured from recycled plastic was initially imposed on January 1, 1999. Later in 2004, the ban was imposed under Section 7(h) of the State Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Rules on the use of small polythene bags having thickness less than 70 microns and size less than 18”x12”. But last year a total ban was imposed on the use of polythene bags of all types and sizes.

“Though there is a complete ban on the use of polythene in the state, still a large number of used polybags are lying scattered here and there. Our effort now is to totally remove them so that its effect on nature could be minimised as much as possible,” Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said.

But there is a BIG WHAT (?) What about the pollution caused by burning of those huge heaps of polythene bags dumped in various parts of state to mix them with the materials for road construction? Or are we JUST HAPPY about the amazing roads constructed using the problematic plastics???

[Source: Different web portals]