Civic body to procure more plastic waste for constructing city roads

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) plans to use plastic waste in road construction. Tenders will be floated for outsourcing the work, and the roads will contain at least 8% plastic waste mixture. The use of plastic waste in road construction makes the roads more durable and prevents the formation of potholes. The MCG aims to reduce maintenance costs and increase the lifespan of the roads.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will float tenders next week for the use of plastic waste in road construction through its engineering wing, said officials.

In December 2018, MCG had constructed its first-ever plastic road in the city, a 100-metre stretch in Sector 51. (HT Archive)

MCG officials said that a meeting was held in this connection in their office at Sector 42 on Friday. Officials said that they have identified the roads that will be constructed using plastic waste.

MCG joint commissioner Naresh Kumar said that they have decided to float tenders so that the work is outsourced and the civic body team will only need to monitor the project. “We formed teams, did the ground work and then decided to float the tender last week. The new agency will use at least 8% of plastic waste mixture in bitumen to construct the roads. They will purchase the mixture from MCG’s concessionaire and the price will range between ₹23 and ₹27 per kilogram, said officials.

The MCG had opened its plastic shredding centre in Begumpur Khatola on May 18, 2019. In the same year, it had passed an order encouraging the use of plastic in road construction on September 16 and November 7, but the work was put on hold due to several reasons, including Covid-19, said officials.

Kumar said that due to unfavourable weather conditions, plastic waste could not be used over the past seven months. “The trial for construction work will begin next week as the minimum temperature needs to be over 15 degrees Celsius for bitumen-related work. Else, the mixture will not stay on the road surface,” he said.

Officials said that the use of plastic waste makes roads more durable than conventional bitumen as plastic does not allow water to stagnate on the surface, thereby preventing formation of potholes. They further said that it also conforms to the guidelines specified in the Indian Road Congress (IRC).

Kumar said that use of plastic waste for roads is a proven concept and the MCG engineering wing had tried it extensively on city stretches to check its long-term benefits. Hence, the MCG is looking to replicate the same across all city roads to bring down maintenance costs and increase durability of roads. “A plastic road has an average lifespan of eight to 10 years as compared to a conventional one, which has five to six years,” he said.

In November 2018, the agenda for using plastic in construction of roads was passed during the MCG’s house meeting at John Hall. In the same month, MCG’s engineering wing visited the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to learn about the method of using plastic waste on roads. It also brought back a sample of a plastic road for testing.

In December 2018, MCG had constructed its first-ever plastic road in the city, a 100-metre stretch in Sector 51. Later, similar roads were constructed in Sushant Lok-1, Palam Vihar and South City-1 in 2019, but the project was stopped, said officials.