Utilization of Waste Plastic Bags

in 
Bituminous Mix for 
Improved Performance of Roads 

PROPOSED BY Er. MANZOOR AHMAD

YETOO
B.S.C,B.E,M.B.A(project
management),M.E,PhD( ENV)
INTRODUCTION

 The growth in various types of industries together with

population growth has resulted in enormous increase
in production of various types of waste materials, world
over. The creation and disposal of non-decaying waste
materials such as Blast Furnace Slag, Fly-ash, Steel
Slag, Scrap Tyres, Plastics, etc. have been posing
difficult problems in developed as well as in developing
countries. Considerable work has been done in various
countries for the disposal of some of these waste
products and utilisation of some other products and
there is a long list of published literature dealing with
different aspects of these challenging problems.
UTILIZATION
 The use of thin plastic bags to pack and to carry various materials
including house hold articles has become a common practice all over
the country. However the disposal of the waste plastic bags in large
quantities has been a problem and is of great concern, particularly in
big cities. The mixing up of these waste plastic bags with other bio-
degradable organic waste materials in the garbage of the urban areas
has been the main cause of the problem. Therefore attempts are being
made in some cities to limit or even to prohibit the use of the thin
plastic bags for packing and other common use, so as to control this
"undesirable waste material" from getting mixed up with the other
organic garbage.
 In case it is possible to find useful application for the waste plastic
bags, there will be substantial scrap value for this waste product and
therefore they will be collected and sold by interested persons, instead
of being littered or thrown out in the dust bins or into the road side
drains.
USE OF RE-CYCLED PLASTICS AS
ADDITIVES IN BITUMINOUS MIXES
 It has been possible to improve the performance of
bituminous mixes used in the surfacing course of road
pavements, with the help of various types of additives to
bitumen such as polymers, rubber latex, crumb rubber-
treated with some chemicals, etc. Some limited studies
have been reported on the use of re-cycled plastic,
mainly polyethylene, in the manufacture of polymer -
modified asphalt cement or bitumen. According to Larry
Flynn (3), re-cycled polyethylene from grocery bags may
be useful in asphaltic (bituminous) pavements, resulting
in reduced permanent deformation in the form of rutting
and reduced low - temperature cracking of the pavement
surfacing.
RECENT STUDIES ON THE USE OF PROCESSED
PLASTIC BAGS IN BITUMINOUS CONCRETE
MIXES
 Laboratory studies were carried out at the
Centre for Transportation Engineering of
Bangalore University on the possible use of the
processed plastic bags as an additive in
bituminous concrete mixes(6). The material
used in this study was supplied by M/s KK Poly
Flex (P) Ltd., Bangalore. The processed plastic
was used as an additive with heated bitumen in
different proportions ( ranging from zero to 12
% by weight of bitumen) and mixed well by
hand, to obtain the modified bitumen.
 The properties of the modified bitumen were
compared with ordinary bitumen. It was
observed that the penetration and ductility
values of the modified bitumen decreased
with the increase in proportion of the plastic
additive, up to 12 % by weight. The softening
point of the modified bitumen increased with
the addition of plastic additive, up to 8.0 %
by weight.
 Studies were carried out on Bituminous Concrete (BC) mixes
using 80 / 100 grade bitumen having average Marshall
Stability Value (MSV) of 1100 kg at optimum bitumen
content of 5.0 % by weight of the mix. Further studies on BC
mixes were carried out using the modified binder obtained
by the addition of varying proportions of processed plastic
bags (percentage by weight of bitumen) with the
conventional 80 /100 grade bitumen. The optimum
modified binder content fulfilling the Marshall mix design
criteria was found to be 5.0 % by weight of the mix,
consisting of 8.0 % by weight of processed plastic added to
the bitumen. The average MSV of the BC mix using the
modified binder was found to be as high as 3312 kg at this
optimum binder content, resulting in about three fold
increase in stability of the BC mix, which contains 4.6 %
bitumen plus 8 % processed plastic by weight of bitumen,
i.e., 0.4 % processed plastic by weight of the mix.
 In order to evaluate the ability of the BC mix
prepared with the above-modified bitumen to
withstand adverse soaking condition under
water, Marshall stability tests were conducted
after soaking in water at 60 Co for 24 hours.
The average MSV of the BC mix with modified
binder (using 8 % processed plastic by weight
of bitumen, as above) was found to increase by
about 2.6 times of the mix with ordinary
bitumen. Further laboratory studies carried out
on the BC mixes using this modified binder
also indicated note worthy increase in fatigue
life under repeated application of loads.
 Thus the laboratory investigations carried out
so far at Bangalore University have given
highly encouraging results for the use of
bituminous concrete mixes in the surfacing
course of road pavements by using this
modified binder which is prepared by the
addition of 8.0 % of the processed plastic, by
weight of bitumen. 3.2. Advantages of Using
Modified Bitumen with Processed Plastic as
Additive
 The use of modified bitumen with the
addition of processed plastic, about 8.0 % by
weight of bitumen, helps in substantially
improving the stability or strength, fatigue
life and other desirable properties of
bituminous concrete mix, even under
adverse water-logging conditions. Therefore
the life of the pavement surfacing course
using the modified bitumen is also expected
to increase substantially in comparison to the
use of ordinary bitumen.
 The effective utilisation of the waste plastic
bags for the preparation of modified bitumen
will result in substantial increase in the scrap
value for this other wise "undesirable waste
material", which are getting littered all over
the urban areas. These waste plastic bags
will not therefore be thrown out along with
the garbage; instead they will get collected
and sold by the consumers themselves or
other agencies, due to the attractive scrap
value.
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