In a recent special gazette notification dated 4th February, 2011 the Ministry of Environment & Forests, directed all municipal authorities across the country to encourage use of plastic waste by adopting suitable technology such as in road construction. It was inspired by the work of Dr. R. Vasudevan, Dean and Head of the Chemistry Department at Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE), Madurai. He has been teaching since 1975 and worked on his idea of using plastic waste in road construction for more than a decade, developing and improving it.
He was further motivated by the 2001 visit of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to TCE, then President of India when he asked him to carry on with his good work and set an example.
Dr. Vasudevan laid the first 60-foot road within the campus of TCE and hasn't looked back since. Numerous plastic roads have been laid in the state of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Goa among others. The technology is simple. The bitumen gravel is heated with shredded plastic. The plastic instantly melts and forms a coating over the gravel thus making it more resilient to temperature and pressure. There are a number of benefits: Low cost of road construction, removal of waste plastic from the environment, increased strength of roads and lower consumption of bitumen coal.
