Indian Government’s Excellent Initiative for Recycling Plastics
Plastics were invented in the early 1900s, its use surged during the world war 2 when it was primarily used in military equipment. After the world war 2 the commercial floodgates were opened and from 1950 to 2017, we have produced 9.2 billion tons of plastics. 6.3 billion of it is either lying in the ocean/landfills, where it will wait for hundreds of years if not thousands before it finally gets fully decomposed. Not sure, if life will exist on our planet hundreds of years out but if in future aliens do visit Earth, they will surely know about our past profoundly immoral and malevolent existence. In 2015 alone, we produced 448 million tons of plastic, if you look at the chart below it clearly represents an exponential growth. Plastic production has only dipped twice in its 100-year history, Once in 1973 because of the oil crisis and second during the 2008 global financial crisis. Our advance in every sector has heavily relied on plastics and without plastics, we would not have made it this far. Undoubtedly, plastics for humanity has been a two-edged sword, now that we are drowning in it.
SOURCE: ROLAND GEYER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/
World population is expected to be 9.7 billion in 2050, India’s population at the same time is expected to be 1.7 billion. As consumerism is growing in India at double digits, India is set to become the third largest consumer market by 2025. Along with every consumer goods and products, the usage of plastics will increase. Clearly, between now and 2050 the way Indians deal with plastic will have a huge impact on the environment at a global level.
Thankfully scientists all over the world are coming with new plastic alternatives or new low-cost plastic recycling methods. Meet Prof. Rajagopalan Vasudevan, aka The Plastic Man of India, Dean of The Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai, India. In the early 2000s, he invented a method which uses plastic waste such as polythene bags, soda bottles, chip bags, other common plastics to make roads. His invention replaces about 10–15% of bitumen used in making roads with plastics, which results in huge cost savings. Bitumen is a product derived from crude oil, and is a glue that holds the components of the road together; just like cement is a glue in concrete. He then went on to revolutionize pavements. His second invention coated the waste plastic over a hot stone. This stone, called Plastone, is regularly used in pathways, footpath and in some cases internal pathways of a community. He patented the technology and gifted it to the Government of India. The roads and pavements made with his technology are proven to be stronger than the traditional 100% bitumen road. This is a win-win scenario. In 2018, Prof Vasudevan was awarded the Padma Shree by the Hon’ble President of India, Ramnath Kovind.
Using Prof. Vasudevan’s method 1 km of road, with a width of 3.75 meters can make use of 1 million polythene bags, that results in saving of 1-ton bitumen and 1 block of plastone can make use of 300 polythene bags and about half a dozen polyethylene terephthalate bottles. Realizing the potential of these methods, Government of India, in November 2015 mandated that all the construction of new roads should utilize plastic waste as a mixer for the bitumen. The plastic waste must be sourced from a periphery of 50 km of the road construction site. Until 2014 approximately 5000 km of roads were constructed using plastic waste. The Modi government has dedicated about 11 billion USD for the construction of 83,677 km of new roads, most of which will utilize waste plastic from its surroundings. Nowhere in the world are plastic roads made at this scale. I don’t want to dwell further into the stats, but this highlights how innovation with good policy can solve the toughest problems. This prudent policy of PM Modi will lead India to great heights and at the same time help save the world.
