Plastic management hasn’t come easy to the world; it is still a public hazard both in the developing as well as developed economies. The rapid increase in population, industrialization has led to an increase in the amount of non biodegradable waste like flyash, plastics etc. It has especially become a big nuisance in the urban areas. The main cause of this is the growing litter menace is that plastic bags are increasingly used in the urban areas to carry materials, and the disposal is also in large quantities.

Many attempts have been made to look at alternatives and derive solutions to check this problem. Numerous debates on plastic waste disposal like laws for banning plastic,incineration, other recycling methods to recover fuels and on the other hand the advantages served by the plastic industry have been tossed around for a long time. But none of these solutions have till date been an overall acceptable form of handling the plastic waste. If only, there could be an alternative use of plastic scrap, the growing plastic litter could be checked.

Recently Mr. K Ahmed Khan of KK Polyflex came up with the perfect solution to curb this growing menace. He along with his nephew developed a recycled plastic called KK polyblend after students of R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore experimented with plastic and bitumen. Thus, it was proved that mixing of various types of plastic with bitumen proved to be an extremely good additive in road mixes that lend greater durability and strength even under excessive water conditions to the mix. It helps in increasing the melting point of bitumen which makes the roads flexible and adds on to the longevity of the roads.

The first success was achieved by the company by constructing a 40 km road in Bangalore and thereon, they got a contract to lay 800 km roads in Bangalore itself. This technique has become increasingly popular and has received and encouraging response from Indian states. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have utilized this technology for road construction and even The Delhi Government had proposed the used of plastic in road construction in the capital as they would be a lot more feasible and durable option as compared to the normal bitumen roads without plastic additives. Though, the construction of roads by mixing plastic is slightly more expensive, but it increases the life of the roads by at least 3 times. Also, the presence of plastic in the roads will reduce the frequency of repairs as the seepage of rain water would be minimized. This would decrease the expenditure over the years.

This introduction of this process in road construction would do a cleaning act of the vast deposits of plastic waste as well as help the rag picking industry of our country as it would lead to increase in the scrap value of the plastic. Hence, there should not be any deterrence in usage of this technology as the benefits are manifold which can offset all the costs. It is hoped that this would not only improve the quality of roads and deal with litter of plastic in an environment friendly manner in our cities but also give a living to the economically deprived rag pickers of our country. It is definitely a social improvement programme in many aspects.