Chennai
Chennai is one of the first and leading cities in India to implement professor Vasudevan’s technology. It has, so far, used 1.6 Lakh kilos of plastic waste to build 1,035 kilometres of roads. Prominent areas in the city like the N.S.C Bose road, Halls road, Ethiraj Silai street and Sardar Patel street are laid with plastic components.
The Guardian wrote in 2016 : 'Jambulingam Street, Chennai, is a local legend. The tar road in the bustling Nungambakkam area has weathered a major flood, several monsoons, recurring heat waves and a steady stream of cars, trucks and auto rickshaws without showing the usual signs of wear and tear. Built in 2002, it has not developed the mosaic of cracks, potholes or craters that typically make their appearance after it rains. Holding the road together is an unremarkable material: a cheap, polymer glue made from shredded waste plastic.'
“Jambulingam Street is the best I have ever seen in the city so far. When many other roads in the city got damaged, this plastic road has remained in good condition for many years,” said N.Chidambaram, an autorickshaw driver in the locality.
Tamil Nadu as a whole has some 20,000 kms of plastic roads, mostly rural ones. A modified version of the road which adds road scrap to plastic-coated gravel was tested out in 2016 on a highway connecting Chennai with Villupuram. It was the first time plastic road technology was used for a national highway. It is expected to reduce construction costs by 50%.
It was announced in Jan 2019 that Madurai, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram airports to get roads made using plastic waste in a pilot project. Recycled waste will be mixed with bitumen to lay roads. Experts say the technology will ensure that the road made with the waste will not need any maintenance for 15 years.
As per the plan, the material will be laid on roads within the airport premises first, and then perimeter roads along the compound walls will be laid. If successful, the technique will then be used for taxiways in the airport.
Officials said that since the Chennai airport generates the highest quantity of plastic waste in the region, this could be a good use case for the project.
In New Zealand, the Christchurch International Airport has paved its airport's fire station's premises using recycled plastic and bitumen.
Pune
Pune, which produces more than 200 tonnes of plastic waste each day, has used 3,343 kilos of plastic waste in building 1,430 kilometres of roads in the last two years. The Pune Municipal Corporation tied up with the Rudra Environmental Solution (India) Ltd and gave them a contract of building plastic roads across the city.
Vishakhapatnam
Taking a step further towards becoming a smart city, the municipal corporation had mooted this project in 2016 when they had laid 10 roads across all its zones. In 2017, till December, 16 more roads were completed. The length of various stretches ranged from a few metres to three kilometres. The aim is to construct more and more roads from plastic waste waste wherever re-laying of roads is required and plastic waste is available.
Indore
Two-time winner of India’s cleanest city title, Indore recycles 100 per cent of its plastic waste and has used 5,000 kilos of waste plastic to build 45 kilometre stretch of roads in the last two years. 'The strength and finishing of roads when waste plastic is used is much better than tar. These roads have a better resistance to water stagnation. We noticed that areas in Indore where plastic was used to build roads saw less water clogging during monsoons as the roads didn’t develop potholes. In other words, the life span of the road is substantially increased', said the Swachh Bharat Mission Consultant, Indore Municipal Corporation.
Surat
Surat finally heaved a sigh of relief during monsoons last year. The idea of using plastic-bitumen mix was executed in January 2017. The diamond city has used 90,000 kilos of waste plastic to lay 15.91 kilometres of roads. The problem of potholes significantly reduced last year as no cracks developed in areas where roads were layered with waste plastic says Akshay Pandya, Executive Engineer, Road Development Department, Surat Municipal Corporation.
Lucknow
The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) is constructing a 10 km long road, from Gomti Nagar Police Station to the Indian Institute Of Management Lucknow, using plastic waste. Padmashri awardee and reputed Scientist Rajagopalan Vasudevan, also known as the ‘Plastic Man Of India’ will be leading the project.
According to the project’s Chief Engineer, Indushekhar Singh, mixing plastic waste increases roads’ durability by 40-50 per cent. “We use less than 50-micron plastic and around 8-10 per cent of plastic waste is being mixed in coal tar”, he added.
“LDA will be following all the guidelines of the Central Road Research Institute in the construction of this road,” Singh said. Singh, told the media, “The process doesn’t require any complex machinery. It just needs to segregate plastic waste to a particular size, heat it and mix it with bitumen to bind it.”
“Using plastic waste can help India, which has the world’s second largest road network, in reducing road accidents deaths. Potholes, a common feature of roads in India, are responsible for one-tenth of deaths that occurred in 2017 due to road accidents in the country”, professor Vasudevan explained to the media.
Chennai is one of the first and leading cities in India to implement professor Vasudevan’s technology. It has, so far, used 1.6 Lakh kilos of plastic waste to build 1,035 kilometres of roads. Prominent areas in the city like the N.S.C Bose road, Halls road, Ethiraj Silai street and Sardar Patel street are laid with plastic components.
The Guardian wrote in 2016 : 'Jambulingam Street, Chennai, is a local legend. The tar road in the bustling Nungambakkam area has weathered a major flood, several monsoons, recurring heat waves and a steady stream of cars, trucks and auto rickshaws without showing the usual signs of wear and tear. Built in 2002, it has not developed the mosaic of cracks, potholes or craters that typically make their appearance after it rains. Holding the road together is an unremarkable material: a cheap, polymer glue made from shredded waste plastic.'
“Jambulingam Street is the best I have ever seen in the city so far. When many other roads in the city got damaged, this plastic road has remained in good condition for many years,” said N.Chidambaram, an autorickshaw driver in the locality.
Tamil Nadu as a whole has some 20,000 kms of plastic roads, mostly rural ones. A modified version of the road which adds road scrap to plastic-coated gravel was tested out in 2016 on a highway connecting Chennai with Villupuram. It was the first time plastic road technology was used for a national highway. It is expected to reduce construction costs by 50%.
It was announced in Jan 2019 that Madurai, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram airports to get roads made using plastic waste in a pilot project. Recycled waste will be mixed with bitumen to lay roads. Experts say the technology will ensure that the road made with the waste will not need any maintenance for 15 years.
As per the plan, the material will be laid on roads within the airport premises first, and then perimeter roads along the compound walls will be laid. If successful, the technique will then be used for taxiways in the airport.
Officials said that since the Chennai airport generates the highest quantity of plastic waste in the region, this could be a good use case for the project.
In New Zealand, the Christchurch International Airport has paved its airport's fire station's premises using recycled plastic and bitumen.
Pune
Pune, which produces more than 200 tonnes of plastic waste each day, has used 3,343 kilos of plastic waste in building 1,430 kilometres of roads in the last two years. The Pune Municipal Corporation tied up with the Rudra Environmental Solution (India) Ltd and gave them a contract of building plastic roads across the city.
Vishakhapatnam
Taking a step further towards becoming a smart city, the municipal corporation had mooted this project in 2016 when they had laid 10 roads across all its zones. In 2017, till December, 16 more roads were completed. The length of various stretches ranged from a few metres to three kilometres. The aim is to construct more and more roads from plastic waste waste wherever re-laying of roads is required and plastic waste is available.
Two-time winner of India’s cleanest city title, Indore recycles 100 per cent of its plastic waste and has used 5,000 kilos of waste plastic to build 45 kilometre stretch of roads in the last two years. 'The strength and finishing of roads when waste plastic is used is much better than tar. These roads have a better resistance to water stagnation. We noticed that areas in Indore where plastic was used to build roads saw less water clogging during monsoons as the roads didn’t develop potholes. In other words, the life span of the road is substantially increased', said the Swachh Bharat Mission Consultant, Indore Municipal Corporation.
Surat
Surat finally heaved a sigh of relief during monsoons last year. The idea of using plastic-bitumen mix was executed in January 2017. The diamond city has used 90,000 kilos of waste plastic to lay 15.91 kilometres of roads. The problem of potholes significantly reduced last year as no cracks developed in areas where roads were layered with waste plastic says Akshay Pandya, Executive Engineer, Road Development Department, Surat Municipal Corporation.
Lucknow
The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) is constructing a 10 km long road, from Gomti Nagar Police Station to the Indian Institute Of Management Lucknow, using plastic waste. Padmashri awardee and reputed Scientist Rajagopalan Vasudevan, also known as the ‘Plastic Man Of India’ will be leading the project.
According to the project’s Chief Engineer, Indushekhar Singh, mixing plastic waste increases roads’ durability by 40-50 per cent. “We use less than 50-micron plastic and around 8-10 per cent of plastic waste is being mixed in coal tar”, he added.
“LDA will be following all the guidelines of the Central Road Research Institute in the construction of this road,” Singh said. Singh, told the media, “The process doesn’t require any complex machinery. It just needs to segregate plastic waste to a particular size, heat it and mix it with bitumen to bind it.”
“Using plastic waste can help India, which has the world’s second largest road network, in reducing road accidents deaths. Potholes, a common feature of roads in India, are responsible for one-tenth of deaths that occurred in 2017 due to road accidents in the country”, professor Vasudevan explained to the media.
