By: Ajeng Mufadillah)*
The high quantity of plastic waste seems to be a trigger for Indonesia to process the useless goods into goods that are beneficial to society. One of them by processing plastic waste into asphalt for the road.
Ministry of Public Works and People’s Housing (PUPR) has conducted a trial of asphalt road construction with a mixture of waste plastic, along 700 meters at Udayana University, Bali.
Head of Research and Development Agency (Balitbang) of the Ministry of PUPR, Danis Hidayat Sumadilaga said the utilization of plastic waste as asphalt is one solution to the current plastic waste problem.
The results of research conducted by his institution, in Indonesia it takes 2.5 tons of plastic waste for roads along one kilometer with a width of seven meters. Meanwhile, for roads with heavy traffic load required two layers of plastic, or five tons. With a plastic mixture, the resulting asphalt is even more sticky when compared to the asphalt that does not use plastic as a mixture.
Standardization of the technology is currently being done it, so it can be applied for the needs of large roads or small roads, throughout the country.
In Indonesia, plastic used is plastic garbage bag crack. The reason, waste plastic bottle has more economic value or can be resold. Moreover, the amount of plastic waste in Indonesia in 2019 is estimated to reach 9.52 million tons or 14 percent of the total waste. Estimated plastic used 2.5-5 ton / km road. Then plastic waste can contribute to the needs of the road along the 190,000 km.
Meanwhile, Deputy of Coordination of Human Resources, Science and Technology and Maritime Culture, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Safri Burhanuddin said, it anticipates the shortage of plastic waste in the future. How, by working with the Association of Plastic Waste Management (ADUPI).
To note, the technology was discovered by a chemical scientist from India, Rajagopalan Vasudevan in 2015. Until now India has built a road along more than 25.000 km of asphalt made from plastic waste. Last June, Kemenko Maritim has signed MoU for technology transfer and use of the technology patent in the country.
With the renewal of technology that makes useless goods such as plastic waste converted into useful goods for road construction, it certainly makes plastic waste has more value that can be utilized its existence. Next, will plastic waste become a new source of livelihood for some people who realize it?