INDIA

GREEN LIVING-STREETS MADE OF PLASTIC.

In India, roads made from shredded plastic are proving a popular solution to tackling
waste and extreme weather "When life gives you plastic waste, make roads." That's the
philosophy behind chemistry professor Rajagopalan Vasudevan's genius innovation that is
helping turn India's trash into a very useful resource. Known as "Plastic Man," Vasudevan has
devised a way to transform common plastic litter into a substitute for bitumen — the main
ingredient in asphalt used for road construction. Instead of seeing increased levels of plastic
waste due to India's rapid economic development as a burden, eternal optimist Vasudevan sees
the trash as a treasure trove of untapped resources. His method not only solves environmental
issues, it also saves money because the cheaper plastic substitute replaces as much as 15 percent
of the more expensive bitumen usually used. While roads made of garbage may sound far-
fetched, more than 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) of plastic thoroughfares have been laid in at
least 11 Indian states to date. Seeing as the groundbreaking method requires no large investments
or changes to existing road-laying procedures, it looks like Rajagopalan Vasudevan's streets
paved with plastic are here to stay.

Jambulingam Street, Chennai, is a local legend. The tar road in the bustling
Nungambakkam area has weathered a major flood, several monsoons, recurring heat waves and a
steady stream of cars, trucks and auto rickshaws without showing the usual signs of wear and
tear. Built in 2002, it has not developed the mosaic of cracks, potholes or craters that typically
make their appearance after it rains. Holding the road together is an unremarkable material: a
cheap, polymer glue made from shredded waste plastic. Jambulingam Street was one of India’s
first plastic roads . The environmentally conscious approach to road construction was developed
in India around 15 years ago in response to the growing problem of plastic litter. As time wore
on, polymer roads proved to be surprisingly durable, winning support among scientists and
policymakers in India as well as neighboring countries like Bhutan. “The plastic tar roads have
not developed any potholes, rutting, raveling or edge flaw, even though these roads are more
than four years of age,” observed an early performance report by India’s Central Pollution
Control Board. Today, there are more than 21,000 miles of plastic road in India, and roughly half
are in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Most are rural roads, but a small number have also been
built in cities such as Chennai and Mumbai.

Last November, the Indian government announced that plastic roads would be the default
method of construction for most city streets, part of a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the
country’s roads and highways. Urban areas with more than 500,000 people are now required to
construct roads using waste plastic. The project even has the blessing of India’s prime minister,
Narendra Modi, who has made “Swachh Bharat” (which translates to “Clean India”) a kind of
personal crusade. India’s road upgrade is long overdue. A recent road safety report by the World
Health Organization (WHO) found that 17% of the world’s traffic fatalities occur in India, with
crumbling roads partly responsible for the high death toll. In 2014, potholes alone caused more
than 3000 deaths. According to the latest budget released by the Indian government, more roads
projects were greenlit in 2015 than in previous years.
Reflection:
This kind of invention is very applicable to a country like Philippines. We
Filipinos are living in a world full of plastics. If there is a change of needs I
consider plastic to be one of the human needs, because in everything we do plastic
is always present. For me this invention would truly help us reduce plastic waste
materials around us. Try to think about its good effects on human health as well as
the animals and plants, the advantage of the plastic road to the provinces, and its
effect to the national budget.
There are chemicals added to asphalt and these are toxic that may harm our
health. According to my further researches about this topic I learned that the plastic
material is being melt and it is added to asphalt in exchange to chemicals that is
toxic. That’s why I consider this as good rather than the asphalt used here in the
Philippines to fix our broken road which is not a good idea. First of all as we can
observe asphalt that is been heated on the street by the temperature given by the
sun it becomes softer than it used to be. But according to the internet asphalt mixed
with plastic waste is harder and more stable than the asphalt traditionally used
specially in our country.
This may also reduce the amount of expenses to the repair of the broken
roads up to 15% of its original amount. And 15% is good enough to save money
and put it to another project. This plastic road may last until five years. If this is
continually practiced it may lead to the growth of our economy. We can also
conclude that many feather roads or roads that are not cemented yet can be fixed
by this invention, considering that Philippines have many provinces which are not
well civilized yet. This will be a big help to the citizens of the provinces in terms
of transportation through vehicles or through their bare feet.
I would rather suggest that the government must adopt this idea. We also
have our scientists that may study more about this invention of India. It can be a
big help to every single citizen of our country in terms of health and transportation.
If every single Filipino will use 1 piece of plastic a day and we do nothing about it
well be drown in sea of plastic someday. So we must reduce using plastics and
reuse plastic waste to make roads, until all plastic are been recycled into useful
things that no one could imagine.

References:
https://www.goodnet.org

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