Eco-awareness: State govt pushes for plastic roads near schools

SOUMITRA NANDI, MP, 5 Aug 2025, Kolkata: The Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department is prioritising the construction of rural roads using plastic waste, particularly those that connect to schools. 

The initiative aims to instil awareness among students from a young age that plastic, often dumped indiscriminately, can be recycled and transformed into valuable resources. “We want school students to realise early on that if plastic waste—which poses serious environmental hazards—is properly segregated, it can be used in constructing roads that are more durable and resistant to extreme temperatures, waterlogging, and heavy traffic. 

We have already built 700 km of rural roads using plastic waste. When someone walks barefoot on such roads, they can feel the difference,” said Pradip Mazumdar, minister in-charge of the P&RD department, at a state-level recyclers’ meet organised by the department in collaboration with UNICEF. 

A department official added that plastic-modified bitumen helps prevent cracks and enhances overall road quality. “Using plastic waste as an additive can reduce the cost of bitumen, making construction more economical in areas with abundant plastic waste,” the official noted. 

For the 2025–26 fiscal year, the department has set a target of constructing over 1,500 km of rural roads using plastic. The state government has already set up 108 plastic waste management (PWM) units, of which 103 are operational. Some are successfully run by self-help groups (SHGs), while others function under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. 

Mazumdar said recycled plastic is also being used to make furniture, paver blocks, bags and more. He advocated for wider adoption of the PPP model to boost plastic waste disposal and realise its commercial potential. 

“E-carts are currently used for collection, but they have limited reach. We are arranging vehicles that can travel longer distances,” he added. Recyclers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), civil society groups and other stakeholders participated in the programme, where various sustainable plastic waste management models were showcased.