Adding Waste Plastics in Bituminous Mixes for Road Construction

Dr. Ankit Gupta, Associate Professor and MoRTH Chair Professor, and Aakash Singh, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, present implementation, challenges, and limitations of converting waste plastic into a valuable resource and as a secondary raw material for road construction.

Introduction

The increase in plastic production and use, and the resultant accumulation of plastic waste, has led to significant environmental challenges. The global recycling rate for plastics is currently estimated at approximately 9%, with the vast majority of over 80% being disposed of in landfills or released into the natural environment (Figure 1). Every year, an estimated 4 to 12 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the oceans (Geyer et al., 2017).