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No plastic waste used in road construction: PWD
Officials said that a recent order has mandated the use of polymer modified bitumen in all the PWD road work projects henceforth.
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The Public Works Department (PWD) on Tuesday said that they have not used any plastic waste in the road construction works they have undertaken so far, in response to a Special Task Force meeting in March on reducing single-use plastic in Delhi.
In the STF meeting earlier this year, all departments including the PWD, were directed to take decisive steps “in a mission mode” to eliminate single-use plastics and explore ways to integrate plastic waste into infrastructure wherever possible.
“PWD and ULBs shall hold a meeting and formulate a mechanism to ensure mandatory use of a certain percentage of plastic waste in road construction and submit a report in the next STF meet. Environment department to coordinate efforts in this direction,” the STF had said in March.
In its action taken report, forwarded by chief engineer (east) to the PWD secretariat on September 10, PWD has said explicitly that “use of plastic waste in road construction is nil.”
While the STF meeting sought a report from PWD on how much waste plastic has actually been used till date, the circular makes it clear that while the legal framework exists for using plastic waste in new road projects, they are yet to implement it.
Officials said that a recent order has mandated the use of polymer modified bitumen in all the PWD road work projects henceforth.
“We have asked all zones to start making it mandatory and have sought periodic reports now onwards,” said an official.
Meanwhile, STF has also given a slew of other directives including banning single-use plastic carry bags, replacing plastic sachets with paper or tin containers, enforcing plastic waste management rules more strictly, issuing bylaws for plastic waste management in urban local bodies, installing PET bottle collection points in malls and markets, and launching awareness campaigns.
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