More Sturdy! Asphalt Road Construction In Garut Utilizes 216 Tons Of Plastic Waste

Garut Deputy Regent Helmi Budiman (second left) with Director of Legal, External Affairs & Circular Economy Chandra Asri (Via ANTARA)

GARUT - The Garut Regency Government in collaboration with PT Chandra Asri and the Bakti Barito Foundation utilizes 216 tons of plastic type of crackle to be used as a mixed material for the construction of asphalt roads in the urban area of Garut, West Java.

This is an innovation step so that the road is more durable than ordinary asphalt. "There are 200 tons of plastic waste that is used as a mixture for the construction of asphalt roads in Garut," said Garut Deputy Regent Helmi Budiman in Garut, Antara, Friday, April 1.

The Garut Regency Government has collaborated for the construction of roads using plastic asphalt in the 2022 budget year along 23 km, then the following year until the total road length is 50 km.

The plastic waste used for asphalt roads in Garut, he said, is the result of a landfill, which is then processed by the company to become an asphalt mixture.

"With the addition of 10 percent of this plastic will increase the strength of 40 percent," he said.

He mentioned that there are six road points whose construction uses a mixture of plastic asphalt, namely urban areas, Kadungora-Leles, Samarang, and Karangpawitan. Helmi said that currently there are several road points that have been completed using plastic asphalt, one of which is the Pendopo area or Garut Square.

"Roads that have been built using plastic asphalt, namely in Alun-alun, the results are really good, look denser, more glued, like in other areas in Cilegon, it is more durable," he said.

According to him, the use of plastic asphalt in Garut Regency is a new innovation that can be a solution to overcome environmental problems, especially in the waste problem in Garut.

"We welcome the deployment of plastic asphalt for the first time in Garut. Our main goal in adopting the plastic asphalt program is to overcome the problem of plastic waste in Garut Regency and its surroundings," he said.

Chandra Asri's Director of Legal, External Affairs & Circular Economy, Edi Rivai, stated that the process of mixing plastic baggies in this project is environmentally friendly, because the process only mixes it with asphalt and does not burn it.

"This is environmentally friendly, plastic is not burned but mixed with hot asphalt, plastic and asphalt are both from petroleum, so there is no pollution," he said.

He conveyed that the construction of the 23 km-long road would require around 216 tons or the equivalent of 28.8 million pieces of plastic waste, which are not recycled much.

"With the deployment of plastic asphalt in Garut, we believe that the problem of plastic waste can be handled better," he said.