Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Plastic roads: something for Nigeria?

I just watched a report about the Plastic road technology, which was developed in India.
The technology of using waste plastic to lay durable and cost-efficient roads, developed and patented by the Department of Chemistry of Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) here, has attracted countrywide attention. 1

Trials have shown that roads tarred with the Bitumen and Plastic mixture seem to be more durable than road tarred with just Bitumen/Asphalt:

The New Prabhadevi Road laid by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation using plastic-bitumen technology has withstood the onslaught of two cruel monsoons.
Today, the road, laid on December 7, 2004, is stable and has no pothole or crack.
The same is the condition of 4-year-old Jambulingam Street in Chennai.
1

500 metres on the Chavadimukku-Pullanivila stretch in Thiruvananthapuram is an
example of the strange mixture used on roads. There has been no damage to
the stretch even after one-and-a-half years, the Chief Minister said. The
technique of mixing tar and plastic is used in Tamil Nadu, he said.
2

Using this technology would help in job creation:


A unique feature of this exercise was that 3700 women's self-help groups were
involved in the collection of plastic waste. Each group was paid Rs.12 per kg of
plastic collected.
1

It is environmentally friendly, if the material is properly processed:

A km of road with a single lane will consume one tonne of waste plastic 1

And maybe, just maybe, Lagos would become at least a little bit cleaner!

Sources :

1 http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/28/stories/2007012817030300.htm

2 news:www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEO20070906023351&Page=O&Headline=Plan+to+try+out+plastic%2C+tar+mixture+on+roads&Title=Thiruvananthapuram&Topic=0

3 comments:

hajia said...

this plastic story is a real scoop. i wish it can work out for nigeria.
i like your blog ... so literary and full of blog stuff. Also the word yardy as short for the man in aso rock. did you coin it?

Marin said...

Thanks Hajia for your comment. I hope someone who can decide finds out about it and tries it in Nigeria. As for the nickname "yardy" someone else has the credit for coining it, I just think it sounds better than all the other nicknames out there.

Jaja said...

Hmmm..

Ok oo... I am an optimist. i t will work in Nigeria...

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