High value fruits namely, apple (cv. Royal Delicious), guava (cv. Baruipur) and litchi (cv. Shahi) harvested at their commercial maturity were considered for MA packaging to enhance storage life. Polymeric films namely LDPE, BOPP, PVC, PVDC of different thickness were used for MA packaging study and various film characteristics such as gas transmission rates, water vapour transmission rate, clarity, strength and durability were evaluated. Mathematical model was developed based on Arrhenius type equation to predict gas transmission rate (GTR) and the developed model was found to be very good fit with the mean relative deviation modulus value quite less than 10 %. The GTR of the films increased with the increase in storage temperature and the magnitude of the increase varied with the film type and thickness. Regression models have been suitably developed to predict the oxygen transmission rate and carbon dioxide transmission rate of selected polymeric films and combined film laminates as a function of temperatures. Since, none of the individual films could meet the gas transmission requirements of MAP for selected fruits, two different films were tailored to form laminates that sufficed the requirements for prolonged storage with maintaining original quality.

The present study shows an investigation on improvement of bituminous binder and its mixes using modified binders with different percentage (1% to 7%) of domestic waste polyethylene (PE).The temperature susceptibility and penetration index (PI) of the modified binders were calculated. It is observed that PI value of modified binder is found higher than unmodified binder. The strength characteristics in terms of Marshall Stability and moisture susceptibility expressed in terms of indirect tensile strength ratio (ITSR) of bituminous concrete were determined in the present study. Marshall stability of the bituminous mixture containing 3% PE increased by 34.2% as compare to mixture containing unmodified binder. The addition of 3% PE to neat bitumen, results in an increase of 20% in indirect tensile strength ratio. Using PE modified binder in bituminous concrete mixes increases stability, indirect tensile strength which turn in provide better resistance against permanent deformation.

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