Plastic waste from BBMP to lay 50 lane km of KIA roads

Fifty lane kilometres of internal roads within the Kempegowda International Airport will be paved using plastic waste generated by the city. As a symbolic first step, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike dispatched the first five tons to the airport on Monday.

The total requirement is 50 tons, of which BBMP and the Bangalore International Airport Limited has inked a deal for 11 tons. The asphalt will be mixed with 6-8% of plastic to increase the durability and longevity of the roads.

But the tie-up goes beyond the small numbers. As outgoing Palike commissioner N Manjunath Prasad put it, BIAL's experience with plastic-mixed asphalted roads will be a model for the city to emulate. "Our engineers can study the technology to replicate it for the city," said Prasad.

A BIAL official said the first consignment of the plastic waste will be used to conduct trials on one or two roads. "BIAL has already taken the first step towards plastic management by banning single use plastic at the airport," the official informed.

BIAL lab tests

The airport operator had recently conducted laboratory tests by blending plastic with bitumen. "The results were in the acceptable limits. The polymerised road has a strong binding ability that can withstand extreme weather conditions as compared to asphalt."

While asphalt roads are expected to last for about three years, the use of plastic as an add-on aggregate could double the longevity.

The seized and recycled plastic waste sent from BBMP will be collected, segregated, cleaned and ground to fine powder by a private firm, KK Plastic Waste Management.

The firm's managing director K Ahmed Khan said plastic was first used on the city roads 20 years ago before the practice was halted in 2012. Replacing bitumen with plastic could lead to potential savings of Rs 30,000 per km, he claimed.

Since 2015-16, the BBMP has seized 2,56,208.37 kg of plastic from retailers across its eight zones, levying a total penalty amount of Rs 32.71 lakh.