Page 60 - Plastics News February 2018

IN THE NEWS

Online plastic bag registry in Vasudevan awarded Padma

Bhubaneswar Shri for introducing Plastics
Road
hubaneswar: The civic body has
Bstarted an online registration 73-year-old retired chemistry professor from the
process for vendors using plastic A Thiagarajar Engineering College in Madurai was
carry bags in the city under the new on named as one of the 73
Plastic Waste Management Rules, recipients of the Padma Shri,
2016.The prospective vendors can the government’s fourth highest
visit the new website www.swm. civilian honour. Rajagopalan
bmc.gov.in of the Bhubaneswar Vasudevan is known as the
Municipal Corporation and register themselves by hitting “Plastic Man of India” for
the tab "permit for using plastic carry bags". They will be devising an innovative way of
auto-guided to register themselves with required details disposing of plastic waste – by
using it to build roads.
of their shops and vending zones. "We have decided to
ease the process by allowing vendors and shopkeepers to The 73-year old Vasudevan developed the methodology
register themselves using the website," said mayor Ananta in 2001 and the first road using recycle plastic waste
Narayan Jena. Jena said they had the data of the number was built in 2002 at Jambulingam Street, Chennai
of shopkeepers and vendors operating in the city and asked which last reported having stood despite several
them to register by themselves. floods and storms in Chennai.From then on the
method is said to have been used to lay over one lakh
If someone fails to do so, he or she will be penalised kilometres of the road across 11 states. Speaking about
according to the provisions of the new rules. "We will the announcement Vasudevan said, “This award will
fix a deadline for the registration and analyse the data also motivate many others to innovate with simple
later. If someone is found missing in the list, they will technology for the benefit of the community and the
be penalised," said the mayor. Under the Plastic Waste common citizen of India."
Management Rules, 2016, every person who wants to use The process which was patented in 2006 by the
plastic below 50 microns will have to register with the college, involves the plastic waste material first
civic body. The corporation will collect a registration fee being shredded to a particular size using a shredding
of Rs 2,000 from the vendors and shop owners towards machine followed by The aggregate mix is heated at
management of the plastic waste. 165°c and transferred to the mixing chamber, and the
bitumen is heated to 160°c to result in good binding
The civic body has also reached a final stage of getting and then the shredded plastic waste is then added to
an independent agency, which will device a mechanism the aggregate.While Europe and US have seen use of
for segregation, collection, storage, transportation and polymer in road building since 1970 the use of plastic
recycling of the plastic waste. "The firm will put up a waste is novel and considered extremely cheap in
mechanism for collection of plastic waste through rag development cost. Besides the cost, environmental
pickers in a safer manner," said an official. Bhubaneswar benefits plays a huge role in using plastic waste. “Use
generates about 15,330 tonnes of polythene waste of each tonne of plastic waste avoids the entry of three
every year, and it does not have any mechanism for safe tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which
segregation and disposal of the waste. "The new plastic otherwise results in global warming,” Vasudevan had
waste management rules has some good features, which said. Vasudevan credits his innovation to his love for
will discourage people from using it. It is not feasible chemistry. He started his career as a teacher in 1972,
when he joined a polytechnic institute in Tamil Nadu,
to ban plastic altogether, it has to be done in a certain he was 26 then.
manner," said environmentalist Sailabala Padhi.

Plastics News Feb ruar y 2018 60