Plastic Roads for India
November 28th, 2009
Although business is booming in India, and the country is making progress by leaps and bounds in areas such as science and technology, it still faces many challenges: terrorism, illiteracy and poverty, crumbling roads and infrastructure, an overflow of waste and pollution, and diseases like HIV. These challenges are not met with optimism either. Many critics of Indian social problems don’t expect any of these issues to be resolved any time soon. On the other hand, there have been changes in the way Indians are viewing their own problems and are now using their resources to their country’s advantages. In an article appearing in NYT titled “Plastic Roads Offer a Greener Way to Travel in India,” business owner Ahmed Khan is taking advantage of two of India’s greatest issues — deteriorating roads and excess waste — to make streets out of recycled plastic and aid the country in becoming more environmentally friendly (Click Here).
The article explains that Ahmed Khan, age 60, owns a waste management company in Bangalore, India that focuses on salvaging plastic thrown away in landfills and mixing it with asphalt. This mixture can then help pave the roads in India. So far, his company has paved more than 745 miles of roads in India and, he hopes to continue spreading his business to other cities.
In the 1980s, the Indian government demanded increases in plastic production in order to become more competitive. Since then, the amount of plastic consumed in the country has dramatically increased but has led to several problems. Most of the plastic ends up in the landfills where it can take up to 1000 years to decompose, or in the ocean where it kills marine life. Furthermore, the plastic becomes a nuisance, come the monsoon season when the plastic clogs drains and causes floods. Even India’s sacred cows suffer as a result of consuming plastic bags, which line their stomachs and leads to calcification of the bags and ultimately starves the animals to death. Plastic has become a hazard in India and the new found way to reuse them for streets will help out the country in more ways than one.
Not only will the plastic streets minimize the problems stated above, but they will also save India time and money. With the normal asphalt concoction, the streets last for a maximum of four years, owing to the harsh weather and the immense usage. The plastic streets’ lifetime is up to one or two years longer than pure asphalt streets. Though the increase in lifetime may not seem very significant, given the costs needed to repair and maintain the roads, it does actually save the country more money and, thus enables the country to spend elsewhere.
In India’s attempt to become more resourceful, more environmentally friendly, and more sustainable in general, this is a big step in ingenuity to help overcome India’s most severe problems. It’s amazing to see entrepreneurs step up and be proactive given the state of their country, as well as the state of the world’s economy presently. Now the question is, what other applications can India come up with to turn its weaknesses into sustained competitive advantages? In what areas can Indian businesses grow to become more environmentally-friendly and benefit the country as a whole? What can companies in the U.S. learn from Mr. Khan’s thought process and ingenuity?
-Danielle Steussy
Entry Filed under: 2010 Student Blogs, India, Misc.
4 Comments Add your own
1. William Ary | November 28th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
In my travels through the third world, I was constantly impressed with the locals’ ability to take things westerners think of as waste and reuse them in surprising ways. In Botswana for example, bottle caps are reused as musical instrument parts and glass bottles are used as potato mashers. There are even stores selling such re-purposed items. I think this kind of thing is the most effective way of recycling. The future belongs to people who can think outside of the box (or the recycling bin) and find uses for things the rest of the world throws away. The US has become a tremendous consuming entity, using and then throwing away everything, forgetting how many uses there are for things. I truly admire the capacity that people India have to ignore what a product’s value is supposed to be and focus on what it could become. Indian companies stand to make a lot of money finding ways to turn our “worthless” garbage into useful product. I can only imagine what they will come up with, unburdened by the preconceptions of American consumerism.
2. Jordan Wente | November 29th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Will that is very true. During my time abroad, I noticed similar uses for what we in the US consider garbage. If this idea of plastic pavement is a good as it sounds, it would be interesting to see the impact it could have on the state of California alone. I wonder what reusing plastic to build roads might do to the CA budget, environment and quality of the roads.
In India, it would be interesting to see the impact it might have on society. It has the possibility to bring high incentives to recycling and to change the process of waste management in general. We in the United States could also benefit from such a change. However, as good as the idea sounds, it seems to me that there might be vast negative consequences to this use of plastic on health and the environment. We are told not to reuse plastic water bottles because of the possible consequences and presence of toxic chemicals, why would a road paved out of plastic be any different? Could the soil and water be contaminated as a result of this use of plastic, creating more challenges for India to have to overcome? The innovative ideas surrounding this article are inspiring and I am sure this kind of thinking will lead to greater developments in the future.
3. Erika Bylund | December 4th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Infrastructure in India is still one the major items on the country’s “to do” list. Danielle’s post really highlights how India’s private sector is not waiting for government to take the lead roll on this issue, but rather, taking the matter into its own hands. India is quickly becoming renowned for its resourcefulness, ingenuity, and efficacy in solving problems like these. (Catherine’s post, entitled “No Toilet, No Bride!” is another example of such problem-solving strategies.) Such initiative is analagous to the American concept of “self-reliance”, a value which seems to have been diluted with abuse of government programs, litigation, and career-politicians. India should serve as a reminder to us about what we forego as a country if we continue to sit here in America being content, unmotivated, and slow to action. In what ways can we in America apply India’s example to our current issues in terms of health care, education, or financial rehabilitation?
4. John Barry | December 6th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Mr. Khan’s ingenuity should serve as a reminder to never leave a stone unturned. Plastic Roads??!! That seems like a creation of a really bad fiction writer! Whatsmore, this innovation effectively deals with the problems of deteriorating Indian infrastructure, and the pollution that so commonly coincides with over-popullation. Even harder to imagine, is the fact that a plastic asphalt hybrid road is more resilient than a pure asphalt one. I can only imagine the great ideas we here in the US could be coming up with if instead of focusing on our next exciting purchase, we collectively got back in touch with the innovating roots that made our nation so great. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since we’ve had a transformational leader to rally Americans in common effort, unless of course, you’re of the pursuasion that the statement “go out shopping” counts as a unifying and transformative call to action. Regardless of your feelings regarding what good leadership should entail, it’s hard to not be impressed with the imaginative problem solving displayed by Mr. Khan in his sinister plot to devoid landfills of the plastics they so badly crave, while simultaneously doing good business.
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