NEW DELHI: Buoyed by its successful pilot programme — usage of segregated solid waste retrieved from sanitary landfill sites for construction of highways — the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is set to introduce a national policy to hand over urban trash to the road construction agencies in a systematic manner and engineered disposal of garbage.
Besides minimising environmental pollution and protecting public health, the move aims to reclaim 10 hectares of land, which has been rendered useless, across states. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed that modalities had already been identified following consultation with the stakeholders, other ministries and municipal agencies in states.
“The policy is almost finalised. After segregation — removal of plastic, glass and metals — we will use waste for road construction. At some places, we can’t extract soil because of environmental issues and at some locations, we have problems with aggregates (gravel, crushed stone and sand), where we undertake soil stabilisation. Usage of garbage waste will have multiple benefits. Garbage at 10 hectares of land is damaging the environment,” said Gadkari, while briefing about the initiative recently.
On an experimental basis, the ministry had used inert material from municipal solid waste in road construction under the Dholera project in Ahmedabad, first stretch of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and Urban Extension Road II that connects NH 44 and Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on NH 48 in Delhi. Gadkari said the policy deals with basic issues such as whether the municipal corporations or councils are to be given incentives for providing solid waste and investment in segregation plants.
“Segregation is extremely important. Plastic, glass and metals are retrieved from the waste. Organic waste is also recovered. From plastic, we will get crude petrol and recycle glass. Segregation unit can be set up at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. We tried to use municipal waste in construction of Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Meetings with stakeholders were convened in the ministry. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. The idea is to bury the entire municipal waste available in the country under roads,” said Gadkari.
The ministry is also considering a policy to use recycled waste water and mixing of plastic and old tyres in bitumen for road construction. The ministry is hopeful that following the policy, demand and consumption of solid waste will increase like it happened in the case of fly ash usage. Initially, when it was proposed to utilise coal ash, there were a few takers. However, the situation has changed and now fly ash is not easily available.
