Goa breaks its head over plastic and garbage disposal, a melange of plastic bags, jerrycans, trash and rotting food - victim of India's consumer economy. But in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, a quiet, humble, 69 year old Dean of Chemistry at Thiagarajar College of Engineering near the city, calls this trash a "gift from the gods" and upto humans to use wisely. Instead of allowing it to sit in open dumps, leaching into the soil and contaminating groundwater, Vasudevan sees an opportunity.
He insists that plastic gets a bad rap. He's devised a way to transform common plastic litter - not only thicker acrylics and bottles but also grocery bags and wrappers - into a partial substitute for bitumen in asphalt. Known as the Plastic Man, he travels throughout India instructing engineers how to apply it. Show me a garbage dump he says and I'll build a road to the airport. The college holds a patent for his technique but often licenses it for free. In recent years his method has been gaining recognition. Almitra Patel one of India's leading experts on garbage who has advised several state governments on waste policy, calls Vasu's technology a win-win-win. It is an absolutely transformational technology that could clean up India overnight. No mean feat, considering that it is diifficult to exaggerate India's (and Goa's) garbage problem. Jairam Ramesh the country's former Environment Minister says that if there was a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India would win it. Another advantage of Vasu's technology (the raw material is free), is its simplicity. It requires no significant technical knowledge or no large investments or changes to road-laying procedures. His whole operation is a good example of the Indian method known as "jugaad" or frugal innovation. I do it all the Indian way Vasu says, why spend big money when you can do it for little? Move over, Manohar Parrikar and German technology. Note: Information used in this article is rearranged and condensed from Bloomberg Businessweek's "It's A Future Highway". Roland. Toronto. Sent from Samsung Mobile
