Construction of Plastic Roads: An Effective Way to Utilize Wastes

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 11 | Nov -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 650
Construction of plastic roads: An effective way to utilize wastes
Akhilesh Yadav1, Ruchi Chandrakar2
1Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Civil Engineering, S.S.I.E.T., Durg (C.G.) India
2Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Civil Engineering, Kallinga University, Raipur (C.G.) India
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Abstract – The population growth, industrialization,
consumerism and technological development have led to
uncontrollable accumulation of waste. Proper waste disposal
is of great importance in both rural and urban areas, as it
increases environmental pollution and occupies land around
industrial plants. One of the solutions is to use these recycled
materials in pavement construction. Today the majority of
roads are constructed using bitumen, tar or cement. Another
kind of road has been suggested: Plastic road. This provides a
solution to the problem of effective disposal of plastic waste at
the same time increases the strength and durability of the
road, addresses the environmental, economic and most
importantly safety issue.
1. INTRODUCTION
Plastic products have become an indispensable part of our
daily lives as many objects of daily use are meant from some
kind of plastic. The growth in various types of industries
together with population growth has resulted in enormous
increase in production of various types of waste materials
world over. Plastic is everywhere in today’s lifestyle. It is
used for packaging, protecting,servingandevendisposing of
all kinds of consumer goods. With the industrial revolution
mass production of goods started and plastic seemed to be a
cheaper and effective raw material. Use of this non-
biodegradable product is growing rapidly and creating
problem of disposal of plastic waste. Disposal of plastic
waste is particularly plastic bag menace and has become a
serious problem especially in urban areas in terms of its
misuse, its dumping in thedustbin,cloggingofdrains;reduce
soil fertility and aesthetic problems, etc. The risk to the
family health and safety would increase and above all the
environmental burden would be manifold. Hence, it is
needed that plastic product must be recycled and not end in
landfills. Hence, one is the way of disposing tyre waste as
crumb rubber into the road for modification of bitumen.
Proper addition of such waste in bitumen improves quality,
life and minimizes construction cost of road.
Figure-1: Plastic-bitumen road
1.1 Problems with Disposal of Plastic Waste
Disposal of plastic waste has emerged as an important
environmental challenge and its recycling is facing
roadblocks due to non-degradable nature. Because plastic
does not decompose biologically,theamountofplasticwaste
in our surroundings is steadily increasing. Plastic waste is
often the most objectionable kind of litter and will be visible
for months in landfill sites without degrading.
The primary methods employed for the disposal of plastic
wastes are:
(i) Incineration: Incineration is a waste treatment
process that involves the combustion of organic
substances contained in wastematerials.Incineration
of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue
gas, and heat.
Figure-2: Incineration
(ii) Land filling: The Landfill Directive defines the
different categories of waste (municipal waste,
hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste and inert
waste) and applies to all landfills, defined as waste
disposal sites for the deposit of waste onto or into
land.
Figure-3: Land filling

1.2 Methodology
Waste plastic is made powder and varying percent
plastic is mixed with bitumen. Plastic increase the melting
point of the bitumen and makes the road flexible during
winters resulting in its long life. By mixing plastic with
bitumen the brittleness overcomes and elastic nature
enhances. The plastic waste is melted and mixed with
bitumen in a particular ratio. There are two important
processes used for bitumen mix flexible pavement, they are
(i) Dry process
(ii) Wet process
(i) Dry Process:
For the flexible pavement, hot stone aggregate
(170°C) is mixed with hot bitumen (160°C) and the mix is
used for road laying. The aggregate is chosen on the basis of
its strength, porosity and moisture absorption capacity as
per IS coding. The bitumen is chosen on the basis of its
binding property, penetration value and viscous-elastic
property. The aggregate, when coated with plastics
improved its quality with respect to voids, moisture
absorption and soundness.
Figure-4: Flow chart of dry process
In this process the shredded plastics are poured over the
heated aggregates, thus forming plastic coated aggregates
which are then mixed with hot bitumen to form plastic
coated aggregate bitumen mixture for laying roads. The
coating of plastic decreases the porosity and helps to
improve the quality of the aggregate and its performance in
the flexible pavement.
(ii) Wet Process:
These are the methodusedforformationofpolymer
based modified bitumen, in which the waste polymer
directly added with bitumen andheateduptotemperatureof
1700C so that proper blend is to be formed with proper
dispersion of waste polymer into bitumen, then the hot mix
is then cooled upto 1200C into another chamber, which is
then added to the aggregate in paddling chamber. The mix is
to be cooled because whenhotmixpouredonaggregatethen
there are chances to form air pocket into small gap of
aggregate and chances in lower the strength of rods and
chances of rutting of roads. After addition of modified
bitumen at 1100C on aggregate, it is thenlaidonthe roadand
then spreader material is compacted by 8 ton roller.
Figure-5: Flow chart for wet process
2. RESULT
The results of the studies on the extraction of bitumenby
dry process showed that the bonding between stone
aggregate and bitumen is improved due to the presence of
polymers. This may be explained by the following tables.
Table-1: Bitumen Extraction at certain Interval
Plastic
Content (%
By Weight)
Bitumen
Extracted
After 5 Min
%
Bitumen
Extracted
after 10 min
%
Bitumen
Extracted
after 15 min
%
0 95.0 97.0 98.0
0.5 63.0 87.9 92.3
0.75 62.7 85.3 90.7
1.0 60.6 76.2 82.8
Use of higher percentage of plasticwastereducestheneed of
bitumen by 10-12%. It also increases the strength and
performance of the road.
Table-2: Improved Characteristics of plastic coated
aggregate
% of
Plastics
Moisture
Absorption
Soundness Voids Aggregate
Crushing
Test
Nil 4% 6% 4% 24%
1% 1% Nil 2.2% 19.5%
2% 1% Nil 1% 18%
3% 0.5% Nil Nil NA
5% 0.32% Nil Nil NA
10% 0.15% Nil Nil NA

Note: The above value shows that the plastic coated
aggregate shows improved quality which is responsible for
the better performance of the road.
3. CONCLUSIONS
Polymer Modified Bitumen is used due to its better
performance. In the modified process (dryprocess)plastics-
waste is coated over aggregate. This helps to have better
binding of bitumen with the plastic-waste coated aggregate
due to increased bonding and increased area of contact
between polymer and bitumen. The polymer coating also
reduces the voids. This prevents the moisture absorption
and oxidation of bitumen by entrapped air. Thishasresulted
in reduced rutting, raveling, and there is no pothole
formation. The road can withstand heavy traffic and show
better durability. The use of the innovative technology will
not only strengthen the road construction but will also
increase the road life as well as help to improve the
environment and will also create a source of income.
Future Scope of Bitumen Roads:
The main scopes of plastic roads are:
(i) Economic in terms of bitumen: The shredded
plastic in form of polymer covers the aggregates and
thus occupies a larger portion of the road reducing
the quantity of bitumen needed.
(ii) Efficient management of non-biodegradable
waste: Plastic is a harmful and non-biodegradable
waste responsible mainly for land pollution. Utilizing
it for road construction will result in its efficient
management.
(iii) Easy process without any new machinery: It is a
simple and easy technique whichdoesnotinvolveany
complex or new machinery.
(iv) Enhanced durability: The addition of plastic to
bitumen will help in improving the strength and
durability of the pavement.
A well constructed plastic bitumen road will resultin the
following advantages:
 Strength of the road increased (increased Marshall
Stability Value)
 Better resistance to water and water stagnation
 No stripping and have no potholes in the pavement
 Increased binding and better bonding of the
bitumen mix
 Increased load withstanding property of road
 Overall consumption of bitumen decreases
 Maintenance cost of the road is almost nil
 The road life period is substantially increased
 No effect of radiation like UV
REFERENCES
[1] Vasudevan R., Nigam S.K., Velkennedy R., Ramalinga
Chandra Sekar A., Sundarakannan B. “Utilization of
Waste Polymers for Flexible Pavement and Easy
Disposal of Waste Polymers”, International Conference
on Sustainable Solid Waste Management, 5 - 7, Chennai,
India pp-105-111, 2007.
[2] Justo C.E.G., Veeraragavan A “Utilizationof WastePlastic
Bags in Bituminous Mix for Improved Performance of
Roads”, Centre for Transportation Engineering,
Bangalore University, Bangalore, India, 2002.
[3] Niraj D. Bariaya, “Use of waste rubber tyres in
constructions of bituminous roads-An Overview”,
International Journal of Application or Innovation in
Engineering & Management (IJAIEM),Volume2,Issue7,
July 2013 ISSN 2319 – 4847.
[4] Tentative Guidelines On Use Of Polymer And Rubber
Modified And Bitumen In Road Construction,
IRC:SP:53:1999.
[5] Vasudevan, R., Utilization of waste plastics for flexible
pavement, Indian Highways Indian RoadCongress, Vol.
34, No.7, 2006.
[6] 40 Tonnes of plastic waste each day, Times Of India,
Chennai Edition.
[7] Shukla, R.S. and Jain,P.K.,Improvementofwaxybitumen
by the addition of synthetic rubbers, polymers and
resins. Highway Res.Bull., 1984,38,17:28(IndianRoads
Congress, Delhi).
[8] Partha Chakroborty & Animesh Das, “Principles Of
Transportation Engineering”, Published by Asoke K.
hosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited, 2005.
BIOGRAPHIES
Akhilesh Yadav
is a Mtech(Highway Engineering)
scholar in Kallinga University, Raipur
(C.G.).
Ruchi Chandrakar
Currently working as Assistant
ProfessorinKallinga University,Raipur
(C.G.).

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