Page 20 - Plastics News March 2017

FEATURES

An idea as solid as a brick to manage plastic

A group of engineering graduates from Kochi has come out with an innovative solution Plastic
bricks thereby managing plastic waste effectively

ith the given thrust on upgrading the inrastructure finished the testing by February. Now we are building a
Wand focus on the housing and realty industry A group small plant in the backyard of my home in Karukutty to
of engineering graduates who recently graduated from make more bricks," Kevin said.
the Model engineering college, Thrikkakara, has come out out of 60 million tonnes of trash generated in India yearly,
with an innovative solution for managing plastic waste - 6,000 tonnes are generated every day in Kerala alone.
plastic bricks.
Kochi known as the waste capital of the state, being the
top contributor, produces around 45,000 metric tonnes
of waste annually.

"We can make 2,500 bricks from five tonnes of plastic
waste generated every day in Kochi," he said. These paving
bricks can be used for making footpaths, paving roads,
and maybe in the future, with some improvement, even
to build houses, the youngsters said.
Innovation is not new to this group who, during their
college days have won accolades for manufacturing a
smart fan-regulator, 'i-fan', hybrid electric trains and a
project on early detection of Parkinson's Disease etc.
Taking inspiration from Ahmad Khan's plastic road, and The others in the team are Saffin Nazeer, Abhijth D, Edwin
stories of plastic bricks made in Ivory Coast and Uganda, Basil James, Geethanjali T Menon Bhagyalakshmi, Arjun
the team came up with a unique product of their own, Sasikumar, Julian Sara Joseph, Sreelakshmi P V, Mevin
one that can be manufactured with raw materials Jacob and Fevin Basil
available locally. James. There is also

"When we made the first prototype, we took it to the civil one medical student.
engineering department of Cochin university for testing Kevin has been selected
quality and strength. These bricks have passed all the to the Massachusetts
recommended tests viz. compressive strength test, water Ins titute o f
absorption test, flexural test," said Kevin Jacob, a member Technology (MIT) for
of the team. Cusat's civil engineering department has more rigorous training
certified the product. in innovation and
"It is a mixture of plastic waste collected from Karukutty entrepreneurship. He
grama panchayat and surrounding areas and some local was selected from an
ingredients," said Manyu J Varma. The methods followed outstanding pool of applicants that included students,
and ingredients used in preparing the brick made it professionals, entrepreneurs and inventors from all over
stronger, less water absorbent, and more durable than the world. The travel and visa expenses for this boot
ordinary bricks. camp will be sponsored by KSIDC that helps young startups
develop with seed funding.
Most of them had got into the IT industry with good pay-
packets but thirst for innovation drove them to quit the "We dream about a machine that eats plastic all day and
jobs. They invested in the venture whatever money they gives out all sorts of construction bricks" said Julian on
saved. "We got these bricks ready by mid-January and the project.

Plastics News | March 2017 20