The Hindu 09.12.2013
Plastic waste to be used for laying roads
Carry bags and other plastic refuse dumped in garbage bins in the city will bring in additional revenue to the local body shortly.
The State Public Works Department (PWD) has approached the Kochi Corporation for plastic granules to be used along with bitumen for laying a road in Palakkad. The local body has also received another request for plastic granules for building a road in West Kochi.
Large quantities of clean plastic refuse, including carry bags, collected from city flats, were earlier converted and stored as granules. The programme was implemented by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, Kochi unit. These granules could also be used for roadworks, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation.
Recently, the PWD had notified plastic granules as a construction material to be used along with bitumen for roadworks. Plastic granules, mixed with bitumen, were found effective in blacktopping roads. The Kochi Corporation had earlier tried the combination for the Goshree and Manappattyparambu roads. If demand picks up, it will help in reducing refuse and earn revenue to the local body, it is pointed out.
Each day, around 25 tonnes of plastic reach the dumping yards of the city. Over 200 tonnes of plastic waste is heaped at Brahmapuram and the corporation has been finding it difficult to handle the growing menace.
The civic body has been engaging in plastic management measures such as scientific capping of refuse at the plant site.
The local body had to face public ire recently when plastic refuse at the site caught fire. Of late, it has also been selling clean plastic collected at the plant for Rs.1.40 a kg.
Meanwhile, civic administrators are dusting up an earlier proposal to set up a plastic waste processing unit at Brahmapuram.
The local body had shelved the proposal as the government had proposed a new plant at Kochi capable of processing plastic as well as biodegradable waste. It may take some more time for the plant to materialise.