In Bhutan, the road to green development is paved with plastic

Bhutan has come up with a new way to pave its roads: waste plastic.

Waste plastic bottles

As part of efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels and deal with growing amounts of plastic waste, the country plans to mix used plastic bottles and other waste plastic with bitumen to blacktop its roads.

The Haa Valley in Western Bhutan

The Green Road project, which is semi-private and semi-public, is expected to reduce the amount of bitumen imported from India by 40 percent, and cut the amount of plastic waste going into landfills by 30-40 percent. Although only 10 to 15 percent of the mix used to pave roads is plastic, the project is expected to consume all the plastic waste in the country of over 780,000 people

A Dzong - a distinctive type of fortress - in the Paro valley in Bhutan, built in 1646

Said plastic road entrepreneur Rikesh Gurung, who in October built an initial 150-metre length of pilot road in the capital, Thimphu,

"We will use the plastic waste to build eco-friendly and durable roads in the country. Recycling plastic waste and not burning (it) is the correct approach to protect the environment.”

Thimphu, Bhutan's capital and largest city

Gurung came across the idea of using plastic waste in blacktopping roads when he was studying at engineering in the southern Indian city of Madhurai. The city, in India’s Tamil Nadu state, had used the technology to pave some of its roads.

Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015

Gurung returned to Bhutan to work in a construction company to gain experience. This year (2015) he got a green signal from Bhutan’s Department of Roads – and financial support of US$78,000 from Bhutan’s Business Opportunity and Information Centre - to launch the plastic roads project.

Bhutanese people in national dress at a local festival

Now the country’s first waste recycling plant is collaborating with a private construction company, the Department of Roads and the municipal corporation to use the plastic mix to blacktop roads across the country. Said a spokesperson from the Department of Roads,

“We are monitoring the (project) and it has already been a success. We plan to replicate the same in other parts of the country.”

A pothole

Gurung predicts the plastic roads will not require maintenance for at least five years, while traditional roads sometimes require yearly repair given the country’s mountain weather. Bhutan’s Ministry of Works and Human Settlement spends about US$4.2 million each year to fill potholes in Bhutan’s roads.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)