PLASTIC ROADS; WASTE MANAGED!

PLASTIC ROADS

Snippets

1. Kenya has taken a serious stab in the past at dealing with urban solid wastes (plastic majorly), though laced with mixed results.
2. Lifespan of a road can be distended three-fold from the normal four or five years to almost one and half decades without need of repair
3. It might sound like recycling but no, it’s plastic waste’s “cemetery” instead of lying idle in landfills
4. Each kilometre of road with an average width of about 3.78 metres require over two tonnes of plastic to blend; it will help to eliminate this non-decomposable monster!

Finally the eyesore thin polythene bags, carry bags, disposable cups, pet bottles, etc that have been a social and environmental nuisance, can be dismissed by a wag of the index finger. It is a sight of relief now that the knowledge of using plastic wastes to make roads is a much awaited technological messiah. This connotes a matter-of-fact end to pollution caused by this non-biodegradable waste that is reposed in this new technology. Plastic use is very popular and the prevailing quest for better long lasting roads is also a reality. For your information, Kenya has taken a serious stab in the past at dealing with urban solid wastes, though laced with mixed results. In 2005, the Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre (KNCPC) came up with a plastic waste management strategy for the city of Nairobi underlining the need to utilise dumped plastic in a study commissioned by UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme). The strategy was partially successful. The dossier pointed the adverse effects and economic challenges that plastic bags thinner 15 microns in thickness posed to the environment.

Two years down the line, the manufacturer of such bags was banned, and a 123 p.c. tax on thicker ones imposed. The solution was to not make plastic in the first place, rather than making it without knowing what to do with the waste. Unfortunately, the ban was summarily suspended in the wake of intense lobbying by the manufacturers. And expectedly, uncollected waste caused by the plastic is what we evidenced everywhere and anywhere. Arguably, the cost of road construction may be slightly higher compared to the conventional method but this should not hamper the adoption of the technology as the benefits are much higher than the cost. It might sound like recycling but no, it’s plastic waste’s “cemetery” instead of lying idle in landfills!

First, durability is vouched for authenticity and then employment created in the process. The latter, probably through setting up plants for collection of the waste plastics and then mixing them with bitumen, or creation of self-help groups that collect and shred the waste. Public too can get the opportunity to sell their domestic plastic wastes instead of discarding them into the dustbin.

A team of engineers from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore, invented this technique of using plastic waste for road construction under the strength-and –durability cogency, while addressing the problem of disposal of plastic waste in an environment friendly manner. Methodically, the plastic is simply shredded using a plastic crusher, melted and mixed with bitumen in a specific ratio. By mixing, the road withstand high temperature fluctuations since the plastics act as strong binding agent making it last longer than those asphalted with ordinary mixture. Long durability is crowned overall because rainwater will not seep through, because of the imbedded plastic hence no effect underneath—ground unequal expansion and contraction.

The lifespan of a road can be distended three-fold from the normal four or five years to almost one and half decades without need of repair is in itself a resounding yes-yes. In fact, environmentally speaking, the world can finally smile; as each kilometre of road with an average width of about 3.78 metres require over two tonnes of plastic to blend, it will help to eliminate this non-decomposable monster!

Public plastic roads are touted to be the future tender bidder, deal-maker. Who knows, the Ministry of Roads is ...searching...

ALPHONCE M. MAGATI