Ludhiana still miles away from using plastic in road construction

While solid waste management continues to be in the dumps in the city, the proposal to use plastic waste in construction of roads has also not moved forward here.

The issue was raised by Congress councillor from ward 94, Gurpreet Singh Gopi during the General House meeting of the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) on Monday. Gopi said that though mandi board officials had constructed a road using plastic waste in Ikolaha village of Khanna a few years ago, the same has not been started in Ludhiana.

The councillor stated that he had even got a letter of approval from the mayor for constructing such a road in his ward in September last year, but civic body officials failed to start the work. He reminded the House he had first raised the issue in July 2021, but eight months on, the proposal has not moved even an inch.

He added that matter has been highlighted in House at least thrice before.

“On one hand the civic body is struggling with solid waste management, on the other hand, authorities are not moving forward with the proposal of using plastic waste in road construction,” said Gopi.

“The project will not just help in environment conservation but also reduce MC’s expenditure on waste disposal. I have submitted a proposal to start the project from my ward on a trial basis,” the councillor added.

Stating that the matter of plastic pollution also concerns future generations, Gopi said he will submit a complaint with the chief minister’s office and Prime Minister’s office, if the MC fails to act soon. Mayor Balkar Sandhu ordered the MC superintending engineers to look into the proposal and also visit Ikolaha village in Khanna to study the project. Sandhu said further action will be taken after the MC engineers submit their report.

City generates over 300 tonnes of plastic waste daily

As per the MC officials, over 1,100 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in the city on a daily basis and around 300 metric tonnes comprise plastic waste. The waste is collected by rag pickers or dumped at the main dumpsite of MC. Apart from this, tonnes of banned plastic carry bags are also confiscated by MC and a study should also be done to use these bags for construction of roads, an MC officials requesting anonymity.

Mandatory to use 8% plastic in road construction as per GoI norms

Former PPCB chairman Kahan Singh Pannu said that as per the norms laid by the Union government, it is mandatory to use 8% plastic waste in road construction. It should be 92% bitumen and 8% plastic waste.

Success story

Retired IAS officer Kahan Singh Pannu had got a road constructed by using multi-layered plastic waste mixed with bitumen in Fatehgarh Sahib in 2018, when he was deputed as the chairman of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). Pannu stated that they had tied up with Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and research was conducted on the use of multi-layered plastic - milk packets, chips pack etc for construction of roads. The road was monitored for a year so that the impact of heat and rainfall can be found out. Stating that the road was found with perfect strength, Pannu said that plastic is shredded and then mixed with the bitumen and gravels in the hot mix plant. There is not much difference in the cost of constructing the road by using plastic waste.