Seized plastic bags to be used in asphalt mix

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will pass on the plastic bags and other items seized from the traders to its major roads department to make asphalt mix.

The Palike has been collecting large amounts of plastic wastes in its dry waste collection centres (DWCCs) and has been searching for a way to dispose of it. “We have more than 20 tonnes of plastic seized through raids in all eight BBMP zones. Much of it is non-recyclable,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner for Solid Waste Management (SWM), BBMP.

“So, instead of dumping them in some place, we’ve decided to use them to asphalt the city roads,” he added.

The asphalt mix requires 7% of plastic and the BBMP has an adequate supply as it has collected about 300 tonnes of plastic items that are dumped in the collection centres every day.

“They could be melted and mixed with the asphalt,” Khan said. “We’ve already decided not to have landfills. We’ll be separately awarding wet waste collection models, in which dry waste like plastic will be collected by ragpickers and sent to the collection centres. So, it would be disposed of effectively.”

On August 26, the BBMP will be handing over the plastic items to the Bangalore International Airport Limited to lay its runways and taxiways.