PLASTIC ROADS-------HEARD ABOUT MIRACLE

 

 Is plastic road possible?  Yes, it’s possible. In this blog, I want to tell about plastic roads. By thinking about plastic roads one kind of happiness is touched

to our heart, we always try to use much less plastic in our day-to-day life but we can’t in that situation.  If we hear that the roads as made with the help of waste plastic. It is great news that at least the waste is not dumping in oceans or lands that are harmful to both aquatic animals and plants animals and of course for us.

Roads are made with the help of waste plastic that does not mean that we can use plastic freely not all plastic is suitable for making roads. These are the roads made either entirely of plastic or of composites’ of plastic with other materials plastic roads are different from standard roads as they are made from asphalt concrete which consists of mineral aggregates and asphalt.

           Rajagopalan is an Indian scientist who has worked mainly in waste management. He is currently a professor at Thiagarajar College of Engineering. He developed an innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct better more durable and very cost-effective roads. This method will help in making roads much faster and also will save the environment from

dangerous plastic waste the technology is simple it involves

1) Collecting waste plastic including plastic carry bags, soft and hard foams, and laminated plastics.

2) Cleaning it by washing.

3) Shredding it to a uniform size.

4) Melting the waste plastics at 165c and blending it with hot aggregated and bitumen and using this mixture to lay the road

PLASTIC ROADS IN INDIA:

            Chennai was among the first cities globally to adopt the technology in a big way when the municipality commissioned 1000km of plastic roads in 2004. Pune, Mumbai, Surat, Indore, Delhi, Lucknow many countries have used technology that can incorporate plastic waste into an asphalt mix like  Australia,

Indonesia, India, the United Kingdom, the United state.

PLASTIC ROAD COST per km:

         The construction of every kilometer of road required nine tones of bitumen and one tone of plastic

waste.

 This means for every kilometer of the road one ton of bitumen is saved, which costs about 30000.

ADVANTAGES:

1)      Plastic roads can be built from waste plastic.

2)      Using less asphalt saves on cost and resources.

3)      Plastic-bitumen composite roads have better wear resistance than standard asphalt concrete roads.

4)      They do not absorb water.

5)      Less need for repair.

6)      Road surface remains smooth.

7)      Lower maintenance and absorb sound better.

DISADVANTAGES:

1)      Pure plastic roads require the use of compatible plastic because when melted plastic of different types may phase-separate and cause structural weaknesses which can lead to premature failure.

2)      Plastic in the road breaks down into microplastics and can find its way into the soil and bodies of water their microplastics can also absorb other pollutants.

3)      Every time maintenance is performed on these modular roads the flow of power water and internet that has been installed within will be interrupted.