Ever since plastic was invented in 1907 and went in to mass production during and after the Second World War, it has become an integral part of our life. Today, there is a bit of plastic everywhere, in our wallets, on our dining tables and kitchens, in our cars and buses and in our phones and offices. It is nearly impossible to imagine a world without plastics. From its beginning in 1950, global plastic production has increased dramatically from 2 million tonnes to 380 million tonnes in 2015. Its sheer convenience -- lightweight and durability – has made this man-made material ubiquitous in every sphere of human existence. At the same time, in the last 70 years it has created a leviathan monster littering the world with 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic being produced and out of which 6.3 billion tonnes were discarded as waste. The world is now seized of this problem of a gargantuan proposition and the theme for this year’s World Environment Day was the plastic menace.

In India, the problem is worse as it produces a little over 15,000 tonnes of plastic every day and more than half of it is discarded as waste littering our roads, choking drains, rivers, rivulets and even oceans. Recycling plastic can be done only 3-4 times and melting the plastic for recycling releases highly toxic fumes. Like every adversity gives us also opportunities, it has now been found that plastic waste can be used for road construction activities. It was pioneered by a scientist from Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Prof Vasudevan. His recycling plastic for roads method has caught up with  Tamil Nadu and Kerala and now with Bengaluru and Guwahati.

Using recycled plastic is a cheaper alternative to conventional plastic additives for road surfaces. Every kilometre of plastic road uses the equivalent of a million plastic bags, saving around one tonne of asphalt. Each kilometre costs roughly 8% less than a conventional road. And plastic roads help create work with more rag pickers being engaged getting better remuneration too. Thus plastic roads are the future to fight plastic menace.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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