Note on a case study of plastic waste.

Explanation

A plastic sack manufacturer in Bangalore has managed to find the ideal solution to the ever-increasing problem of accumulation of plastic waste. Ahmed Khan, age 57 years old, has been producing plastic sacks for the past 20 years. About 8 years ago, he realised that plastic waste was a real problem. Polyblend, a fine powder of recyled modified plastic, was then developed by his company. This mixture is mixed with bitumen that is used to lay roads. In collaboration with R.V. Collage of Engineering and the Bangalore City Corporation, Ahmed Khan proved that blends of Polyblend and bitumen, when used to lay roads, enhanced the bitumen.s water repellant properties, and helped to increase road life by a factor of three. The raw material for creating Polyblend is any plastic film waste. So, against the price of Rs. 0.40 per kg that rag pickers were getting for plastic waste, khan now offers Rs. 6. Using Khan.s technique, by the year 2002, more than 40 kms of road in Bangalore have already been laid. At this rate, khan will soon be running short of plastic waste in Bangalore, to produce polyblend. Thanks to innovations like Polyblend, we might still avoid being smothered by plastic waste.