Utilization of waste polymers for flexible pavement and easy disposal of waste polymers

Solid waste management is the thrust area. Of this various waste materials, plastic waste, and municipal solid waste are of great concern. Use of disposed plastics waste is the need of the hour. On the other side, the road traffic is increasing. The traffic intensity is increasing. The load bearing capacities of the road are to be increased. The studies on the improvement of road strength using polymer modified bitumen (PMB) for flexible pavement are being carried out by different schools. Virgin and recycled polymers are being used for these studies. But when higher percentage of plastics waste was used, the polymer got separated from the blend. Hence a new innovative technique was developed by the author and the heated stone aggregate was first coated with plastics generated from wastes like carry bags, films, foams, and multi layers and the plastics waste coated aggregate (PC A) was used as the raw material for flexible pavement. PC A is then mixed with 60/70 or 80/100 bitumen and the mix is used for road construction. PC A + Bitumen mix showed better binding property. It had less wetting property. Its voids were much less. The sample showed higher Marshall Stability value. By this process a road of Ikm length and 3.75m width of single lane can consumes 10,00,000 carry bags and the road strength is increased by 100% and there is no pothole formation. The roads laid using PCA + Bitumen mixes are performing well. Performance studies were carried out for plastic road of different ages and reported in this paper. © Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.