Rajagopalan Vasudevan
Indian scientist who has worked mainly in waste management.
He has developed an innovative method to reuse plastic waste to construct better, more durable and very cost-effective roads. This method will help in constructing roads much faster and also will save environment from dangerous plastic waste.
The bitumen-modified plastic improves the tensile strength of the road by making it more durable and flexible. Plastic also prevents pothole formation. When the layer of molten plastic fills the space between the gravel and bitumen it thwarts rain water from seeping in and causing structural defects.
At least 16,000km of road have subsequently been paved in the state of Tamil Nadu. The national government has since approved the idea and sanctioned at least 13,000km across the country to be paved in the material as well. Of this, 8,600km have already been completed, says Dr IK Pateriya of the rural development ministry in Delhi.
Using the same process to merge waste plastic and stone with materials like limestone, ceramic waste and granite, Dr Vasudevan has created another eco-friendly building material that consumes up to 40% more waste plastic than that used in the road laying process. He calls this material “plastone” and says that it is lasting, durable and cheap.
Each plastone block consumes nearly 300 plastic bags and between four and six plastic bottles.
He was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour Padma Shri in 2018, for his groundbreaking research on re-using waste plastic – in a very unusual way.
He is currently a professor in Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai 625015, TamilNadu, India.
