Bangalore: Trash to Treasure - Khan Bros Develop Eco-Friendly Plastic Roads
 
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (PS)
 
Bangalore, Jun 19: Plastic waste strewn on the road is a common sight in any Indian city. But most people are content to throw the trash, then complain and blame the authorities for it. Few take the initiative to correct the wrong.
 
Rasool and Ahmed Khan, both traders of plastic once upon a time, are an exception, and indeed, their deeds are exceptional too.

Top: Rasool and Ahmed
Bottom: One of the roads laid by the brothers using recycled plastic

The two have taken the unique initiative of constructing roads using recycled plastic. These pro-development entrepreneurs have re-laid 1,400 km of plastic-bitumen road in Bangalore, thereby accomplishing a historic task.
 
The story behind the realization of this dream project is worth a mention. When the state government imposed ban on the usage of plastic bags less than 40 microns in the year 1996, the duo faced the possibility of their factory getting closed. There were 100 workers in their tiny factory. In view of their future, Rasool and Ahmed found out an alternative way of helping them. They worked out a plan to use plastic waste with bitumen in constructing roads.
 
However, it took quite a long time to realize their dream. In the year 1997-1998, the Khan brothers experimented with a mixture of stones with plastic tar to fill the potholes on a road in Jayanagara area.
 
This evoked an excellent response right in the beginning. Motivated by the response, the duo went on to fill about 300 potholes within a short span of time.
 
Bits of plastic waste collected from various apartments and civic workers are stored in bags and allowed to dry for a week. The plastic is then mixed with bitumen and asphalt at a factory located in the outskirts of the city.

The road made from the mixture of plastic waste and bitumen is resistant to rain and can last for nearly 6-7 years, as against normal roads that need to be re-laid every three years.
 
Rasool's son Amjad Khan, a chemical engineering student in RV College, Bangalore has also taken interest in his father’s project. The technology developed by the brothers has also obtained patent from Central Road Research Institute (CRRI). Between 1998 and 2000, around 600 potholes were filled in the vicinity of Jayanagar using this technology.
 
In the year 2002, with the support of the then chief minister S M Krishna, Rasool and Ahmed constructed the first-ever plastic-bitumen road stretching 500 meters in Bangalore. In the same year a stretch of 30 km was constructed for Bangalore City Corporation.
 
Apart from Bangalore, the brothers have also laid roads in Delhi for 2 km and in Hyderabad for 6 km. Raichur district administration has also approached the brothers, and the technology has evoked interest in even countries like Saudi Arabia, Italy, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma and Nigeria.