WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:06.800 Plastic is a very useful material. 2 00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:11.140 Plastic as a packing material, wonderful. 3 00:00:11.600 --> 00:00:14.380 Plastic as a domestic material, 4 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:18.960 plastic as electronic gadgets. Everywhere you can 5 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.860 see. So plastic is very important in this day-to-day life, 6 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:25.740 especially it's a cheap material. 7 00:00:26.560 --> 00:00:30.540 At one stage in 2001, they thought of banning plastic 8 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.480 because the accumulation of plastic is so much, and they are not 9 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:37.980 able to dispose it, and it clogs the pathway of 10 00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:41.720 the canal, of the drainage system, et cetera. 11 00:00:42.110 --> 00:00:45.860 The stagnation resulted, and because of stagnation, you have 12 00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:49.340 mosquitoes. Like that, the problem multiplies in different ways. 13 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.120 So you must find out a solution for that. That was my aim. 14 00:00:53.900 --> 00:00:55.000 I am Dr. Vasudevan. 15 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:58.060 I'm a professor in chemistry, and 16 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.080 I develop technology which are useful for common man. 17 00:01:04.940 --> 00:01:08.740 Plastic is non-biodegradable. That's the problem. 18 00:01:09.240 --> 00:01:10.740 But I say, "Why do you bother about it? 19 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.660 Let us try to use it for something else." 20 00:01:14.620 --> 00:01:18.390 See, actually, what is done is you take a stone, heat it to 21 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:19.070 100 degree, 22 00:01:20.100 --> 00:01:23.980 and the shredded plastic. These shredded plastic, which 23 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:24.200 are 24 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:27.020 obtained from our waste plastics only. 25 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:31.520 Now, this is added over the stone. And the moment you add it, 26 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.580 it gets melted and coat over the stone. 27 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:36.760 Over that, bitumen is added. 28 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:41.520 And now mix it and roll it and use it for road 29 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:45.280 laying. The advantage now here is the plastic that is 30 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:48.760 coated acts as a binder with the bitumen and the stone. 31 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:54.020 Normally, we expect 1,000kg load-withstanding 32 00:01:54.100 --> 00:01:56.740 property according to the Marshall stability test. 33 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:00.270 But this product which has been developed withstands 34 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:04.360 2,500 kilos, more than twice the strength of the 35 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.060 normal road. 36 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:10.539 Today, more than one lakh kilometers have been laid in India, and about 37 00:02:11.700 --> 00:02:13.140 11 states are involved. 38 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:18.860 This was a plastic road which was laid in 2006, 39 00:02:19.700 --> 00:02:21.940 and this is almost more than 10 years old. 40 00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:23.220 And the road is 41 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:27.840 performing very well. No crack has been found in this development. 42 00:02:27.920 --> 00:02:29.960 It has withstood 10 seasons. 43 00:02:31.260 --> 00:02:33.940 The plastic is not a problem. 44 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:38.520 It is the garbage culture is a problem. The littering is a problem. 45 00:02:39.220 --> 00:02:42.100 Anybody comes to my room, I give them two chocolates, 46 00:02:42.940 --> 00:02:44.560 and then I just find out what they do. 47 00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:49.560 They take the chocolate, but the paper, they simply crush it and keep 48 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:53.060 it on my table itself. I have a dustbin there. 49 00:02:53.420 --> 00:02:57.380 They can put this small chase. They are not able to put it in the 50 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:00.020 dustbin, but keep it on the table. That is our culture. 51 00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:03.680 This is the plastone. 52 00:03:04.600 --> 00:03:06.780 This contains granite stone and plastic. 53 00:03:07.640 --> 00:03:11.260 This is one foot by one foot. This consumes about 54 00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:15.660 two kilos of plastic. So a large amount of 55 00:03:15.720 --> 00:03:17.580 consumption of plastic takes place here. 56 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:21.200 So when you try to use this as a structural material, 57 00:03:21.940 --> 00:03:25.760 we manufacture more plastic to use 58 00:03:25.820 --> 00:03:26.380 it. 59 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:29.700 Whenever the chemistry is so much useful, 60 00:03:30.640 --> 00:03:33.500 my interest is how common man can be improved. 61 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:37.700 So what he needs. So that is the motivation, and thereby, we 62 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:39.520 have developed many products. 63 00:03:40.940 --> 00:03:44.360 When I started the work, some of the companies in the United States, 64 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:47.320 they came to know that. They were offering a lot of money. 65 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:50.520 They want the technology to be given to them. 66 00:03:50.600 --> 00:03:52.580 But I said, "No, we are not giving like that. 67 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:54.800 I'm giving to my country freely." 68 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:00.100 Only thing is India has got 41 lakh kilometers, only 1 lakh is laid. 69 00:04:00.350 --> 00:04:04.320 The other roads should be laid. That is motivation for the whole 70 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:05.000 work.