Islamabad: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, On Monday, inaugurated Pakistan’s first-ever eco-friendly Plastic Road In Islamabad. The road will be made up of recycled plastic waste, the minister said, which would not only reduce the spread of pollution in the region but also minimize the impact of environmental pollution caused by plastic waste. The Minister said that the concept of plastic roads will be utilized in other cities with the passage of time. He also appreciated the Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) for initiating several projects in the federal capital.
The one-kilometer plastic road to be constructed at Atta Turk Avenue is being constructed by Coca-Cola Pakistan in collaboration with CDA and the National Incubation Centre. For this purpose around Ten tons of plastic waste have been collected. The cost of the road would be 21 million. Pakistan has the highest percentage of plastic waste in South Asia. Almost 55 billion plastic bags are produced in the country and almost all of them are thrown into the garbage or land areas which severely damage the environment. In Pakistan, around 30 million tons of solid waste is produced every year which contains 9% plastic waste.
Speaking on the occasion, The Chairman CDA said, “This plastic road project will set the stage for the future of innovation within our joint sustainability drive with the Coca-Cola Company. What is particularly exciting is how this opens us up to the possibility of making this a reality across the nation.” The vice president of COCA-COLA Pakistan and Afghanistan Fahad Ashraf said that the project belongs to those Pakistanis who care about progress. He further added, “This Plastic Road Project In Islamabad will set the stage for the future of innovation within our joint sustainability drive with the Coca-Cola Company. What is particularly exciting is how this opens us up to the possibility of making this a reality across the nation.”
According to the estimates of the government of Pakistan, around 87 thousand tons of solid waste is generated in the country on daily basis. Only in Karachi 13500 tons of solid waste is generated daily and there is a serious issue of management of urban waste. Utilizing plastic waste to construct roads is becoming popular around the world. In a press release Coca Cola says, “As part of our global sustainability and environmental goals and vision, together with TeamUp, we focused on creating & developing a bituminous mixture that can provide longer-lasting and smoother roads than we have today, With an ever-increasing road network of over 270,000 kilometers, this project has the potential to change the way we view plastic waste.”
