Centre advises States and UTs to use plastic waste in road construction in cities

In 2013, the Indian Road Congress had published guidelines for use of plastic waste in road-making and in 2015, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued an order making it mandatory to use plastic waste mixed with bitumen in roads within 50km periphery of urban areas with population of 5 lakh and above.

The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry wrote to states and UTs on July 8 asking them to take steps to implement the Indian Road Congress guidelines.

They were asked to use “plastic waste in bituminous roads wherever they may be constructed such as all departmental roads including internal roads in housing colonies, treatment plants for water supply, sewerage and solid waste, office complexes etc. to give a fillip to proper utilisation of non- recyclable plastic waste with suitable changes in bid documents”.

The states and UTs were also asked to take up the issue with their major road construction departments, including PWD, Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj.

Three central government secretaries – Vini Mahajan (Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Ministry of Jal Shakti, Anurag Jain (MoRTH and MoHUA) and Shailesh Kumar Singh (Ministry of Rural Development), had on June 28 written to all chief secretaries to encourage use of plastic waste.

“…it is requested to ensure the availability of appropriate quality waste plastic and review the usage of waste plastic in road construction within respective states/UTs… States/UTs must prioritise establishing a comprehensive framework for utilisation of waste plastic in bituminous road construction across all types of roads…” the secretaries wrote.

They said that the required changes should be made to the Detailed Project Report (DPR), tender and Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) documents prepared for road projects.

Some experts, however, caution against viewing its use in roads as the only or best solution to the problem of mounting plastic waste.

“Using plastic waste in road making is a form of end of life disposal, which is the least preferred option compared to mechanical recycling and co-processing. Reduction of plastic waste should be the first and most preferred option, followed by mechanical recycling and co-processing,” said Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, programme manager for the Centre for Science and Environment’s for municipal solid waste and circular economy unit.

According to CPCB’s latest figures, 4.12 tonnes of plastic waste was generated in 2020-21. Around 60% of that is recycled. For each kilometre of road with 3.75 m width, using 1 tonnes of plastic waste mixed with bitumen can save `6.3 lakh, according to a 2019 MoHUA plastic waste management document.