Plastic to be used for making roads

Kochi: The city corporation has at last found a way of getting rid of its plastic waste with the state Public Works Department (PWD) launching road construction projects across the state using plastic granules.

Tonnes of plastic carry bags and other plastic waste generated by the city, which had become an increasing nuisance for the corporation, have now become a source of additional revenue for it as the PWD  has approached it for supply of plastic granules made from cleaned plastic refuse for use along with bitumen for road tarring.

The Kochi corporation will be the biggest beneficiary of the PWD’s plastic road project as it will be able to clear huge piles of plastic waste , over 200 tonnes of it, accumulated at its Brahmapuram plant this way.

“The corporation has received a request from the PWD for plastic granules for tarring a road in Palakkad.

If the plastic road construction project is implemented successfully across the state and demand picks up, it will help in reducing refuse and earn  the local body revenue,” said sources in the corporation, adding that the PWD’s decision could help it find a feasible and permanent solution to the plastic waste menace stalking the city.

Earlier, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Kochi chapter, had tied up with the civic body and collected plastic refuse from high-rise flats in the city for storing after  conversion to granules.

The city corporation is currently dumping 20 to 25 tonnes of plastic waste in Brahmapuram every day as its ban on use of plastic of less than 40 microns thickness has not proved effective in Kochi.