A 'PATH-BREAKING' EXPERIMENT

The biggest drawback of plastic, which is now used in every aspect of human life be it domestic use, industrial or research, is that it is biodegradable.

It has become a big pollution issue, clogging drains, polluting and dirtying the environment in many ways. Profesor Vasudevan of the Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, decided to take it upon himself to solve the problem.

While experimenting in a laboratory, he mixed waste plastic with heated bitumen. It formed a product that he coated over stone. The first sample of this mixture was used in a road construction on the Thiagarajar College premises. There are various advantages of using plastic in road construction. It is cost effective and it has reduced wear and tear of roads to a great extent. In 2015, a government order made it compulsory to use plastic in all road constructions.