The abundance of plastic waste dumped in the environment and its harmful effects call for an urgent action. In response, many countries have actively taken up the responsibility of recycling as much plastic as possible. There are different ways of utilising the recycled plastic, one of them is to utilise it for the construction of roads.
India is one of the few countries which has already started the use of recycled plastic in road construction from the past few years. In fact, a government order in November 2015 made it mandatory for the road developers in the country to make use of plastic waste alongside bituminous mixes for road construction. On the other hand, some similar projects are being initiated by other countries as well.
Plastic is a material created by man but it’s also something that can’t be destroyed. A majority of the waste created by humans contains plastic waste which ultimately chokes stray animals to death, clogs drains and only leads to mess. The clogged drains lead to flood while the plastic in the fields blocks germination, thereby preventing rainwater absorption.
Considering the complexity, it seems like a perfect solution to put plastic in the heated bitumen and coating mixture and use it for road construction. But how practical is it? Well, the answer is quite positive. Although some may point out that spreading a material, which is harmful to environment, on the roads can be even more disastrous; the truth is that many roads built in India over the past few years have laid down plastic waste on the lanes without any issues being reported.