Lucknow civic body takes plastic waste 'road' to green pitch

LUCKNOW: Come Monday and the plastic bottles you throw away will pave way for smoother commute in the city.
Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) will start constructing a 10-kilometre road near Indian Institute of Management (IIM) using plastic waste collected from across the city Monday onwards.
LDA would require 178kg of plastic for the eco-friendly project, which has been launched on a pilot basis.The agency would team up with Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) to get 120kg of the required plastic and will collect the remaining 58kg waste from the residential colonies under its jurisdiction.
Inspired by the success of such roads in countries like China and Thailand, LDA officials said that the road would be constructed using a lesser quantity of concrete. Plastic granules would partially replace concrete in the construction. These roads would not only be more resistant to rain, but would also solve the problem of disposing plastic waste.
LDA chief engineer Indushekhar Singh, said, "The process doesn't require any complex machines. It involves shredding plastic waste to a particular size, heating the waste and then mixing it with bitumen to bind it."
Padma awardee and noted scientist Rajagopalan Vasudevan, who is also known as the 'Plastic Man of India', would be anchoring the project.