By the turn of the century, a lot of noise was being made to reduce the use of plastic and control the waste it was generating. It was during this time when, one evening, Prof. Vasudevan saw a doctor on a TV program saying that plastic ‘dissolved’ in water bodies caused pollution.
.
“This set me thinking. Since plastic is a product of petroleum this theory of the doctor had to be false. There was a lot of serious talk about banning plastics all over the country and finding solutions to thebwaste plastic strewn all over. I decided to take up the challenge to experiment with waste plastics and see if I could find a solution,” he says.
.
Laboratory results of mixing waste plastic with heated bitumen and coating the mixture over stone proved positive. He implemented the use of plastic waste on a road constructed inside the premises of his college in 2002.
.
“To date, this stretch of road is still going strong,” he says.
.
In 2006, the Thiagarajar College of Engineering received the patent for this technology.
.
The entire process is very simple. The plastic waste material is first shredded to a particular size using a shredding machine. The aggregate mix is heated at 165°c and transferred to the mixing chamber, and the bitumen is heated to 160°c to result in good binding. It is important to monitor the temperature during heating...
.
Plastic waste helps increase the strength of the road, reducing road fatigue. These roads have better resistance towards rain water and cold weather. Since a large amount of plastic waste is required for a small stretch of road, the amount of waste plastic strewn around will definitely reduce.

Source:
http://www.wastesmart.org/2017/01/indian-professor-turns-plastic-wastes-into-raw-material-for-road-construction/

wonderful