Plastic waste is one of the major problems facing the world today. As you may know, plastic waste, such as shopping bags, plastic bottles, etc., takes 20 to 500 years to decompose. A small portion of the world’s plastic waste is recycled and the rest is dumped in landfills and oceans, which creates dangerous effects on human and animal life.
Emphasis is being placed on reducing plastic waste and making the best use of it around the world. Recently, a road was built in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, using plastic waste.
A few days ago, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid and Chairman of Capital Development Authority (CDA) Amir Ali Ahmed inaugurated a plastic road in Islamabad.
Plastic road in Islamabad located near F6 named Ataturk Avenue is made in partnership with Coca-Cola, TeamUp, and CDA. 10 tons of plastic waste was used to complete 1 km of the road while the total cost of the project was 21 million.
Before this, The CDA first experimented with constructing a 1 km long road using plastic waste in F9 Park, which was successful.
Pakistan is also on the list of countries that produce more waste. According to a rough estimate, more than 30 million tons of solid waste are produced annually, of which 9% is plastic. On the other hand, if we talk about plastic bags, 55 billion plastic bags are made in Pakistan in just a single year. You can guess from these statistics how much plastic waste is dumped in landfills and oceans.
If you look at the history of plastic roads, India was the first in the world to build a road using plastic waste. In 2004, a 1000 km long road in Chennai, India was constructed using plastic waste. Vietnam, South Africa, and Switzerland, and some other countries have previously built roads using plastic waste.
If we compare a road made of plastic waste with other roads, then the plastic road is much better than other roads. In terms of cost, the total cost of 1 km plastic road is Rs. 21 million while the cost of the other road is around Rs. 50 million.
The plastic road is not only cost-effective but also eco-friendly. Building roads using plastic waste can provide low-cost infrastructure in the country, and also there is a better way to dispose of plastic waste.
CDA Chairman Amir Ali said that ” The purpose of building a road with plastic is not to save money but to make the best use of plastic waste “. The durability of the plastic road will be tested in a few months. If successful, more such roads will be built. he added