The increase in plastic waste as well as the pitiful condition of the roads are some of the most important problems that are plaguing the city of Bangalore today.We are trying to solve both these problems in one go by spreading awareness on the reuse of waste plastic for road reconstruction.

PROJECT !--object--IVES: 

Many Environmental Groups as well as NGOs are working hard to completely stop the usage of plastic by people in daily life but this not entirely feasible as plastic especially polythene bags are cost effective and easy to use. Since plastic is non-biodegradable it certainly is not ecofriendly. When discarded carelessly it often blocks drains and causes land pollution. Burning of plastic wastes leads to air pollution and also the fumes given out contain a large amount of toxic gases which when inhaled leads to lung cancer. Therefore encouraging the recycling of plastic becomes a very necessary exercise. Bangalore is suffering terribly from lacking road infrastructure. The roads last for a very short time and soon develop potholes. Through research it has been found that the roads constructed with plastic as a constituent are found to be more DURABLE thereby promising long lasting roads. Good road infrastructure will lead to the establishment of more companies (which are now complaining about the sad state of  Bangalore's roads.) in the city therefore promoting employment and economic prosperity. Therefore to address both the problems :- 1.Safe disposal of plastic 2.Poor road infrastructure we have looked upon recycling plastic for road construction as the most viable option and are encouraging people to give their waste plastic for road reconstruction rather than throwing it on the roads, in their gutters or in their neighbour?s house !!

PROJECT ACTION PLAN:

Our action plan basically was spreading awareness on large scale. Getting in contact with KK Plastics.It is a company that collects plastic and then recycles it to mix it with bitumen used in making roads. This year they got 430 Km of roads to tar from the government. We have asked them to collect waste from our local neighborhood and recycle it to be used for making roads.   We did lots of research like==Conducting a survey at the local community level to find out how many were aware and how many are interested helping. . Some interaction with Mr. Ahmed khan (MD KK Plastics) gave us this information that rag pickers and garbage collectors in J P Nagar and Jayanagar areas of Bangalore are now earning Rs 900- Rs 1000 per month just by collecting about 5 Kg of plastic per day and handing over to KK Plastic which hands then Rs 6 per Kg of Plastic.    Visit to the Wipro Electronic City Campus to explain the process of recycling plastic this way, the benefits that the company and the community gets together, and pursuing them to collect all waste plastic generated in the campus in a specific area to be given to KK Plastics on regular basis.   Publishing an article in The Indian Express, a leading newspaper in the city, about this issue.   Our group got in touch with an ex-Reuters journalist to prepare a video which fully explains how plastic can be recycled to make roads .We showed this 15 min video at several gatherings in the Ferns club house .   In Indiranagar we spoke to several RagPickers.We asked them to segregate the wastes properly into plastic and non plastic wastes, in different bins and sell the collected waste plastic to KK Plastic which would supplement their income.

PROJECT RESULTS: 

Before we begun this project not even 20 % of the people surveyed were aware that plastic could be recycled to make roads. Even those who knew didn?t know that these roads were more durable. Now 80% of them accept it a good way to get rid of plastic. An entire affluent colony of around 200 has begun segregating plastic and giving it for this cause. An estimated 6 tonnes of plastic is said to be collected in a year! The rag pickers now are earning around Rs 12000 per annum per person in addition to their routinely income by collecting, segregating and selling waste plastic to KKPWML. 4 bins have been introduced in their collecting pushcarts. Indian multinational Wipro, educated and motivated about this procedure have now taken this matter seriously. They have allocated a specific place in their Electronic City Campus (with a 12000 strong work force) for dumping all plastics generated from logistics, stores and food consumables and handing it over to KK Plastics on their rounds. This is bound to create a ripple effect and will soon spread to all the software campuses of different companies in the city as well as among the common people.