Indian Firm Builds Roads Using Plastic Waste
- 14 years ago
An Indian firm is helping to solve the country's massive trash problem by turning garbage into roads. They’re using a mix of asphalt and recycled plastic. It’s said to withstand wear and tear even better than conventional roads.
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K.K. Plastic Waste Management turns thousands of tons of waste plastic from India's technology and IT hub into roads. They last longer than conventional roads and rid the city of its excess plastic.
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[Ahmed Khan, K.K. Plastic Waste Management]: (English)
"If plastic is not used properly, if it is used only in landfills, then there is no end for this every day there is a generation of 10,000 tons of waste plastic and it would all go to landfills, how much you can do that? There should be an end, and after filling the land it will not degenerate or bio-degrade and ultimately it will be a problem so this is the best solution to use it in road construction, road construction if it is fully used – all that waste plastic generated can be embedded in the roads."
Khan said they have helped build more than 8,000 miles of roads, and it’s even possible to completely use all the waste plastic in India to build more roads.
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[Professor C.E.G. Justo, Road Expert]: (English)
"It (waste plastic) is mixed in the bituminous mix in the hot mix plant and it forms a mix. It does not really blend with it or does not dissolve with the bitumen but it blends with it, gets into some of the voids of the bituminous mix and makes it more resistant to deterioration under wet weather conditions or it can withstand the rainfall and the deterioration in a better way than other roads.”
Plastic is considered an environmental hazard as it does not decompose and stays in the environment for years, causing grave damage to fish, marine birds and cattle that are choked to death after swallowing plastic bags.
[...]
K.K. Plastic Waste Management turns thousands of tons of waste plastic from India's technology and IT hub into roads. They last longer than conventional roads and rid the city of its excess plastic.
[....]
[....]
[Ahmed Khan, K.K. Plastic Waste Management]: (English)
"If plastic is not used properly, if it is used only in landfills, then there is no end for this every day there is a generation of 10,000 tons of waste plastic and it would all go to landfills, how much you can do that? There should be an end, and after filling the land it will not degenerate or bio-degrade and ultimately it will be a problem so this is the best solution to use it in road construction, road construction if it is fully used – all that waste plastic generated can be embedded in the roads."
Khan said they have helped build more than 8,000 miles of roads, and it’s even possible to completely use all the waste plastic in India to build more roads.
[....]
[Professor C.E.G. Justo, Road Expert]: (English)
"It (waste plastic) is mixed in the bituminous mix in the hot mix plant and it forms a mix. It does not really blend with it or does not dissolve with the bitumen but it blends with it, gets into some of the voids of the bituminous mix and makes it more resistant to deterioration under wet weather conditions or it can withstand the rainfall and the deterioration in a better way than other roads.”
Plastic is considered an environmental hazard as it does not decompose and stays in the environment for years, causing grave damage to fish, marine birds and cattle that are choked to death after swallowing plastic bags.