Planned Obsolescence of consumer products

A rather amazing documentary on the way modern consumer products are designed to fail. This is a trend that is as old as the industrial revolution and has gone to such proportions today that there is a real awareness spreading to blow the lid of this trend and get consumers to demand a change in our economic model of growth. Well worth watching till the end, as it talks of the sustainable alternatives we need to adopt.

Paving plastone blocks, a great alternative to Cement!

Here is another great invention from scientists in Madurai!  Traditional cement blocks of red and grey colour have been used to pave parking areas, and recently entire street in Puducherry, but more commonly for private roads and walkways.  Cement is a carbon intensive product, requiring large quantities of heat in its production.  Researchers from Thiagaraj College of Engineering in Madurai have devised a new block called the Plastone which combines recycled plastics and stone to make a block that is much stronger than its cement equivalent but also non-porous, thus doing away with the ills that affects traditional cement blocks.  Cement blocks tend to give way when heavy loads such as trucks roll over them, as well as water seepage during monsoon seasons which undermines the traditional sand foundation of the blocks, leading to potholes.

What's more, the plastone uses up to 30% waste plastics in its fabrication, mainly plastic bags and PET bottles.  According to the scientists, it may even be possible to make plastones using recycled e-waste, mainly the plastic boards on which the electronic circuitry is embedded.  This could a real bonanza, as e-waste is a major plight of modern society.  Three cheers for this ingenious indigenous sustainable product and its creators! (Original article: The Hindu)

PLastones use 30% plastic waste and stone, they can even be made with recycled e-waste!