The Centre is exploring the possibility of using treated municipal waste for laying roads.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari held a meeting with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu here on Wednesday and discussed generation of waste in urban areas and ways to recycle it.

Gadkari also directed the Central Roads Research Institute (CRRI) to submit a detailed report on how municipal waste can be used for road building works, a senior official in the road transport ministry told DH.

The CRRI had recently submitted a report to the ministry, stating that 65% to 75% of the segregated waste can be used for laying of roads.

The CRRI earlier conducted a study taking over 200 samples of garbage generated in Delhi. It recommended that the waste can be used for the construction of roads, and monitored for two years. If the experiment is found to be a success, it can be used on a large scale, the report said.

Gadkari is keen on using this for the construction of the Meerut Expressway (NH 24) near Delhi on a pilot basis.

Relief to municipal bodies

The ministry is of the view that the use of solid waste will reduce huge mounds of waste in the dumping yards and will also give relief to urban municipal bodies that are struggling to handle the waste generated on a daily basis.

In India, around 62 million tonnes of waste is generated annually, of which 43 million tonnes is collected. Around 11.9 million tonnes of the collected waste is treated and 31 million is dumped in landfill sites, said the environment ministry.

According to an estimate, waste generation will increase to about 165 million tonnes in 2030.