Pakistan’s recent efforts towards eco-friendliness, which includes the massive tree plantation drive across the country, have been lauded by the global community. Once again, the country is paving the way towards reducing its plastic waste by using it to build roads. Yes, you got that right. Pakistan has built its first-ever plastic road in Islamabad by recycling waste plastic bottles. The initiative was a joint venture of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the National Incubation Centre and a multinational firm.
Let’s take a look at how all this was made possible.
Plastic Road In Islamabad
The new plastic road in Islamabad is a patch of one kilometre on Ataturk Avenue that was inaugurated by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Dec. 6. The minister lauded the efforts of the CDA and other partners to come up with the idea and deliver it on time. What was previously only an idea is now a reality. The minister said that plastic roads will now be developed not only in the federal capital but also in other cities.
In the wake of the global issue of plastic pollution, the Government of Pakistan has taken the initiative of using plastic to build roads that will not only be cheaper than traditional materials but also help save the environment. The roads built with plastic will be more durable and using this as raw material, the impact on the environment will be on a large scale.
For a one-kilometre patch of road, 10 tonnes of plastic bottle waste was used. As reported by a major daily newspaper, Islamabad produces 700 tonnes of waste out of which around 150 tonnes are only plastic. If the initiative is expanded to the national level, plastic waste from every city can be used to build better and more durable roads across the country. According to CDA Director Omer Sagheer, the formula used to build the patch was a mixture of 10kgs of plastic for 42kgs bitumen that gives better marshal stability, penetration value and durability as compared to traditional bitumen roads.
Composition Of Plastic Roads
Traditionally, the roads are made of asphalt which is a mixture of aggregates, binder and filler. When cooled down, this becomes solid and provides ample durability but its environmental effects are huge. Plastic roads consist of plastic waste which includes wasted bottles, post-consumer product packaging and bitumen. The formula used by CDA consists of approximately 19 percent plastic while the remaining is bitumen for perfect binding.
Benefits Of Plastic Roads
There are numerous benefits of using plastic in road construction. Increased use of plastic has led to plastic pollution, which has now reached rivers, seas and oceans affecting marine life. By using plastic to construct roads, we can see an increase in development, a reduction in cost to construct roads and lowering the environmental pollution.
Other benefits include:
- Plastic roads are more resistant to rainwater
- More plastic will be used to repair and develop road infrastructure which means lesser plastic in landfills and oceans
- The process reduces time by recycling plastic on-site during use
- Plastic has better durability as compared to aggregates of asphalt
- It has better resistance to cracks
Plastic Roads – A Global Practice
The concept of plastic roads is new to Pakistan but the practice of using plastic in road construction has been adopted by many countries globally. Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), India, Indonesia, the United States and South Africa already have plastic roads and their plastic road network keeps increasing.
The plastic used in these roads is almost invisible to the naked eye because it is simply a part of the road and all you get is smooth and well-maintained road infrastructure. This brings us to the end of the topic. There are more topics on Zameen Blog where you can read about the newest government initiatives. You can also subscribe to Zameen Newsletter for regular updates about the booming property sector of Pakistan.
