Embossing green footprint on healthy environment, Indian Military Engineers use plastic for road construction

Guwahati, November 29: Creating a mass movement in India’s pledge against single-plastic use, many have come forward in accomplishing this mission by crafting best out of waste. On a similar note, the Military Engineer Services, which provides rear line engineering support to the Indian Army, is undertaking a pilot project for road construction utilising plastic as a partial substitute to bitumen.

 

This ambitious project has been undertaken at the Narangi Military Station, where approximately 1.24 MT of plastic waste have been used to construct the road using the technology. In this technology, the road is constructed by mixing shredded plastic waste with heated bitumen. This is a green technology, which aims to reduce menace of plastic waste on one hand and improve the durability of the roads on the other.

It is pertinent to mention that the Indian Army has always been taking various initiatives to promote a healthy environment and has endeavoured to enhance its green footprint and employ methods to reduce pollution. The army has undertaken numerous drives under the Swatch Bharat Abhiyan and contributed immensely towards this facet.

The project to use plastic in road building is an initiative to reduce, reuse and recycle waste plastic. The road constructed using waste plastic lasts longer, is cheaper to build and maintain and significantly reduces the amount of plastic going into our oceans and landfills.

Utilisation of waste plastic in road construction can help in significantly solving one of the biggest problems of plastic waste management. On successful completion of this project, the tested concept will be advocated in MES for road construction works in various Cantonments and Military Stations.