HYDERABAD: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad may take a leaf out of the Bangalore Municipal Corporation's book for using waste plastic in laying roads in the city.

A 10-member standing committee team of the MCH headed by Chairman and Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy that left for Bangalore on Thursday for a two-day study tour, evinced keen interest in the plastic-fortified roads. The use of waste plastic as a strong binding agent for tar would not only increase road quality but also help reduce non-biodegradable waste, Bangalore Mayor Mumtaz Begum told the MCH team, according to a release.

Pilot project

BMC Commissioner K.Jyothi Ramalingam explained to the MCH team that initially a product K.K. Poly developed by an entrepreneur by using littered plastic bags, pet bottles and thin film grade plastics for modifying bitumen was used in laying roads. A 40-km `plastic road' was laid as a pilot project in 2003 and when results turned out to be good, another 530-km road was laid and now BMC was totally using waste plastic in road network of about 1,000 km. Plastic roads were three times better than conventional roads. The World Bank and the Central Road Authority too recommended using waste plastic in laying roads, he said.

Mayor Krishna Reddy who gave a power-point presentation to BMC officials about new initiatives taken up by the MCH, said they too would like to replicate the Bangalore experience in laying `plastic roads' in twin cities.

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