Lets lay some roads!

The invention has taken place...

The innovation has been explored and is ready to be executed...

What’s next?

The Hindu : NATIONAL / TAMIL NADU : Plastic collection on Wednesdays

The ingenious, resourceful contrivance of using plastics in the laying of roads is now facing a peculiar and unexpected snag. Believe it or not… The process has come to a screeching halt due to the lack of (usable) shredded plastic!

The answer to this rather unbelievable problem lies in the hands of the everyday consumer. The corporation of Chennai has now decided to go door-to-door collecting daily usage plastics specially, thin carry bags. They have declared every Wednesday as plastic collection day. The local conservancy staff will travel in tricycles around the city collecting plastics from houses and small businesses.

They have further initiated various educational institutions to be a part of this drive. The students are encouraged to carry waste plastics from their homes and neighborhoods to school on Wednesdays, which will then be collected by the conservancy staff of that area.

This initiative in the process of enabling a crucial innovative will also help promotes healthier household habits.

Lets remember… Wednesdays are plastic collection days!

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!

Biodegradable plastic bin bags now in India!

This is one product I have been wanting to blog about for a while now.  Yesterday I ventured back to my local Nilgiris store where I originally discovered it.... and what a discovery!  Nevertheless, these are hard to come by, I had to remove half the shelf's content to find it.  In an era where more and more people are saying "No to plastics!" this product is a welcome sustainable alternative!

These are biodegradable plastic bags from Indian bin bag manufacturer Plastobag from Bangalore (email: plastobag at gmail.com).  They even have a facebook page.  This is one product I strongly recommend, and I am going to bury one of their bags in a spare flower pot on my terrace to see if it really decomposes and after which I will plant a seed to see if plants are affected. 

The bags come in a handy roll with perforated separation to easily detach them, as well as the very handy tie tapes (in white in the photo below) which allows the maid to securely seal the bag and prevent them from being sniffed out by stray dogs and cats and their contents spilled out in the street!

I use these bags to line my rubbish bin where I segregate food waste from plastic, paper and other non-recyclable waste.  I know that in the end it all gets mixed again in the dumper truck, but at least my bio bag will decompose in the land fill and after a few years, only the recyclable-waste will remain, or at least that is the theory!  I have tried, without success so far, to get my local bin explorer who sorts out the plastics and other recyclable waste from the street dump, to accept my dry waste, as I figure it would be a lot more pleasant and efficient for him to sort out what he can resell from a bin that does not smell of decomposing waste.  However, last I approached him he was very happy to accept, maybe because someone paid attention to him (?), but he has not made it into a habit to come back for more.  It would be great if we could organise such people to collect pre-sorted waste from local houses and flat.  They render such a great service to the neighbourhood and the environment but often with such lack of respect from the community.  allowing them to sort through dry waste would also give them back some humanity.  Let's see if a little aspiration, a prayer to Hanuman, and some dedication can