A Correspondent
Dibrugarh: In line with the government’s mission against single-use plastic and initiative to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic waste, a meeting on plastic management, especially on the prospects of using shredded waste plastic in bituminous for road and highway construction, was held on Saturday at the conference hall of Dibrugarh Municipal Board.
The meeting, which was chaired by Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha, was also attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Ranjit Konwar, Assistant Commissioner Jagdish Chelani, officials of works departments like PWD NH, PWD Roads, NHIDCL, contractors, plastic segregators and shredders of the district.
At the beginning, Executive Engineer (i/c), PWD-NH Division, D Nath spoke about the guidelines of IRC SP 098: 2013 for use of shredded waste plastic in hot bituminous for road and highway construction. He said that roads constructed with plastic waste modified mix consumed less bitumen, which was cheaper to build and sustainable and also economically viable for all concerned with these sort of constructions. It also reduced the menace of plastic waste at the same time. The local shredders, who send shredded waste plastic to Guwahati and Delhi from Dibrugarh, can use the same in this sort of local use by simply getting the materials certified by CIPET, resulting in curtailment of transportation cost.
Exploring a way for safe disposal of plastic waste, PWD, Dibrugarh NH Division has already completed the construction of a 100-metre trial stretch successfully in front of Naina Cinema Hall, Naliapool in Dibrugarh by using shredded waste plastic recently.
Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha said that utilization of waste plastic in road construction could help in significantly solving one of the biggest problems of plastic waste management. He also urged all other departments like PWD Roads, PWD NH and NHIDCL to come up with plans for using waste plastic in road construction in the district. Stressing the need for proper training and awareness of the people involved in plastic segregation and shredding in the district, Deputy Commissioner Jha appealed to NHIDCL authorities to opt for a plan under their CSR initiatives to facilitate local shredders with proper training so that the quality of their products met the standard for construction purpose locally.