Kudos! Indian Army Just Built A Road Completely Out Of Plastic Waste In Guwahati

Plastic waste generation in our country remains unabated and if we don’t act on it, it might threaten our future. The Indian Army on the other hand is setting a great example in making the most of such plastic pile-up in our country and putting it to greater use.

Indian Army’s Military Engineer Services is undertaking a pilot project at Narangi Military Station for road construction utilising plastic as partial substitute to bitumen. Approximately 1.24 MT of waste plastic has been used to construct a road using the technology.

A few days ago, it was revealed that India is the fifteenth biggest plastic waste producer globally, producing a whopping 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day. Discarded plastic waste plagues the country’s roads, rivers, open lands, and form garbage dumps as tall as the Qutub Minar in Delhi.

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha on November 22 that the country’s 60 major cities produce 4,059 tonnes per day of plastic waste, quoting a study of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

“The production of plastic in India increased from 1,591 million metric tonnes in 2014-15 to 1,719 million metric tonnes in 2017-18. However, the production for 2018-19 is 1,589 million metric tonnes,” Union Minister of State for the environment ministry, Babul Supriyo said, quoting a government report released this year.

Researchers and scientists are trying their best to figure out ways to combat plastic pollution with some even succeeding to certain levels.

Last month, researchers discovered two strains of ‘plastic-eating’ bacteria from the wetlands of Greater Noida, an advance that may lead to eco-friendly alternative clean-up methods for plastic waste worldwide.

The bacterial strains discovered by researchers at Shiv Nadar University in Greater Noida have the potential to decompose polystyrene — a key component in single-use plastic (SUP) items such as disposable cups, cutlery, toys and packaging materials, news agency PTI reported.

The bacterial species namely Exiguobacterium sibiricum strain DR11 and Exiguobacterium undae strain DR14 were isolated from the wetlands adjoining the university.

Polystyrene is quite resistant to degradation due to its high molecular weight and long chain polymer structure. This is the reason for their persistence in the environment, according to the study published in the journal Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Advances.

Source: India Times

Image Courtesy: India Times