To reduce garbage, BBMP may use plastic waste in laying roads

'This way, 70 tonnes of plastic can be cleared instantly from City's streets'

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) plans to use plastic waste in laying roads so that the City’s garbage problem is reduced to some extent.

Bengaluru generates over 3,000 metric tonnes of waste every day, of which 20 per cent is plastic. Then, there are huge quantities of plastic in the large heaps at various landfills, dumping sites and other places. All this needs to be cleared. “We will increase the use of plastic in laying roads and other construction works,” BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik told Deccan Herald.

 He continued, “Before reaching any conclusion, we will go through the notification (on the plastic ban) and read the fine print of implementation. If most of the plastic can be used for roads and other construction activities, managing the remaining organic waste will become easier. Using plastic for laying roads is an expensive affair. But if the quantity of other materials is reduced and plastic increased, the cost will get balanced,” he said.

The BBMP’s Engineer-in-Chief, M R Venkatesh, said that if not many roads in Bengaluru were being relaid, that was because no big funds were allocated in the budget. This year, 300 kms of road have been laid so far. The budget allocated is around Rs 40 lakh per kilometre, he added.

Another BBMP official said that more companies were supplying plastic to the BBMP for laying of roads. “Earlier, there was just one company. Now, there are many. The BBMP pays the plastic supplier Rs 28 per square metre of the road laid. But it’s still unable to manage it because of lack of funds and the increasing number of plastic dumps. So, the use of plastic has to be increased.”

Rasool Khan, founder and director of KK Plastic Waste Management Pvt Ltd, which mixes plastic with bitumen for laying roads, said the quantity of plastic could be increased and that of bitumen decreased. “By doing so, around 70 tonnes of plastic can be cleared from Bengaluru instantly. Using plastic in laying roads increases the project cost by Rs 25,000-30,000 for a kilometre, but longevity increases and the periodic maintenance cost goes down,” he said.

Use of plastic in laying roads is permitted by the National Highways Authority of India and the Indian Road Congress. The NHAI is now planning to use waste plastic generated in Bengaluru and its outskirts to lay highways that connect to the City. A 200-metre stretch between Hosur and Krishnagiri has been laid this way for a trial period of two months,” Khan added.