Reliance Industries approaches NHAI for Waste Plastic-to-Road Technology
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has approached the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for offering its ‘waste plastic-to-road’ technology that uses end-of-life plastic for road construction.
The company has already piloted few projects and has constructed nearly 40 km of road by mixing 50 tonnes of end-of-life plastic waste with bitumen at its Nagothane manufacturing site in Raigad district.
“It took us some 14-18 months to develop this mechanism where we can use the end-of-life waste plastic-like the packaging of snacks and flimsy polyethylene bags, among others, in road construction.
“We are in talks with the NHAI to share our experience and to help the use of end-of-life plastic for road construction,” the company’s COO Petrochemicals Business Vipul Shah told reporters.
Along with NHAI, RIL is also in talks with state governments and local bodies across the country for offering its technology, he said.
Explaining the benefits of the usage of this waste plastic, Shah said, “it not only ensures sustainable utilization of plastic but is also financially viable”.
Our experience showed that 1 km of road uses 1 mt of waste plastic and can save nearly Rs 1 lakh as it can be utilized as a substitute to bitumen to the extent of 8-10 percent. So, roughly we saved Rs 40 lakh. Besides, this plastic also enhances the quality of roads, he said.
He said the roads made using this plastic were completed in two months and sustained the torrential rains of last year without any erosion. Related: 10 Great business ideas for 2019
“NHAI is expected to construct 10,000 km of roads with average four lanes in FY2021, which is around 40,000 km of roads that can use nearly 40,000 mt of waste plastics. Besides, other state authorities and local bodies are expected to construct 23,000 km of around four-lane roads.
“This is a good 86,000 mt of waste plastic,” RIL Head business development sustainable solutions KRS Narayan said.
He, however, added that the biggest challenge in this process is the collection and segregation of this waste plastic, process know-how that we can offer.
“We have still not decided about the commercial model for this. Going forward, we may consider developing products that could be used directly in road construction. But this will happen once we see the market for this business,” Shah added. PTI PSK
source:- indianweb2
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more entrepreneurship, business, corporate solution videos and Like Facebook Page