The state panchayat and rural development department is aiming to soon make 80 waste plastic management units fully operational to enable preparation of mixture with bitumen for construction and restoration of roads in various districts of south and north Bengal.

Bitumen is primarily used for construction and maintenance of roads. When mixed with a portion of plastic, it gives improved results. As reiterated by a senior official, the plastic-bitumen mixture has given effective results. At an initial level, the state panchayat and rural development department has developed around 1.8 km of roads in Polba-Dadpur block of Hooghly district with more efficient outcomes as compared to only bitumen. The department is now putting efforts to expand the usage of plastic for construction, upgrade and maintenance of roads.

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The state panchayat and rural development department is putting efforts to complete around 1,000 km by the end of the ongoing financial year. For this, the department has identified some of the districts in south Bengal, including Hooghly, Howrah, Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum and West Midnapore. While keeping away from the hilly terrain, districts namely Malda, New Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur in North Bengal, have been taken up for the project.

To enable preparation of the plastic-bitumen mixture for being used in the identified stretches of these districts, waste plastic is being segregated and shredded for further process. Considering the fact, for enabling segregation and shredding, the department has set up plastic management units in various districts.

As pointed out by an official source, the source of the plastic being shredded and prepared for being mixed with bitumen for better results are the waste collected and segregated by various municipal corporations and municipalities. “We have around 80 plastic management units operating at various levels. We are just starting to take these segregated plastics from these units. At present, shredded plastic is being procured from 14 units. In the next one or two months, we are targeting to do the segregation and procurement from 80 units,” informed an official of the department.

As elaborated by the official, the 80 waste plastic management units are mostly located in rural areas. “We will be doing the maintenance and upgrade by using mainly waste plastic. We are starting with 10 per cent of the total length of roads we are planning to execute within the month of March 2025,” added the official.