Use of Waste Plastics in the Pavements of the Flexible Road in the Highway Construction

Civil Engineering

Plastics are user friendly but not eco-friendly as they are non-biodegradable. Generally it is disposed by way of land filling or incineration of materials which are hazardous. The better binding property of plastics in its molten state has helped in finding out a method of safe disposal of waste plastics, by using them in road laying. Modified Bitumen is one of the important construction materials for flexible pavements. Use of plastic waste (LDPE) and Crumb Rubber i.e. the rubber obtained from the waste tyres of vehicles, in the construction of flexible pavement is gaining importance. It is also worth mentioning that, the modifier raw-material has been sourced from disposed waste plastic and crumb rubber. This not only allows us to collect modifier raw material at low cost, but also provides a solution towards ecological menace posed by increased use of plastics (non-biodegradable).an attempt has been made to use waste plastic, Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Crumb Rubber, blended using dry process for LDPE and wet process for CRMB. Marshal method of bituminous mix design was carried out for varying percentages of LDPE and Crumb Rubber to determine the different mix design characteristics .the utilization of waste materials as replacement of the non-renewable products that need mining as well as processing has become very common. With the release of code IRC: SP: 98: 2013 of Indian Road Congress (IRC), the path for using plastic waste in the formation of roads all over the country has been cleared. Probable application of plastic waste in flexible pavement construction are studied and various positive and negative aspects of plastic waste use in pavement construction are focused here in this paper. Various reviewed studies relating plastic road technology reveal increase in resistance to deformation, increased durability, improved fatigue life, stability, strength, damages.

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