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While I applaud the change in perspective into looking at plastic as a resource, not a curse, this article smells of BS: > He received a patent for the process

While I applaud the change in perspective into looking at plastic as a resource, not a curse, this article smells of BS: > He received a patent for the process in 2006. Since then, almost 10,000km of Indian roads have been paved using his technique. This sounds like random stats thrown around by government officials, particularly because later in the terribly-written article, it mentions: > Nonetheless, at least 16,000km of road have subsequently been paved in the state of Tamil Nadu. The national government has since approved the idea and sanctioned at least 13,000km across the country to be paved in the material as well. Of this, 8,600km have already been completed, says Dr IK Pateriya of the rural development ministry in Delhi. The numbers simply don't add up. > Shredded plastic below 70 microns (including the multi-layer plastic shreds) is then sprinkled over it. A shredder capable to shredding materials down to 70 microns is absurdly impressive, and would likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unless the article means that some of the plastic films being used have a thickness of 70 microns. Honestly, it just looks like the author read 70 microns in the source material and threw it in to impress without knowing what it means. > A stone tile measuring one square metre has a manufacturing cost of Rs 100, approximately £1.. 60 plates would be sufficient to construct an eco-friendly bathroom, says Dr Vasudevan. £60 to build a toilet in India, plus labor, construction, etc? This is a very bad idea. The median household income per capita in the poorest states in India is under $1000/year. Just the cost of the toilet is much higher than the median monthly household income of one person. That's before we get into the issue of using cement and concrete in the "plastone", which are very carbon-intensive (concrete generates about 400kg of CO2 per cubic meter). It would be much cheaper, simpler and greener to use wood to build it, which can be carbon net-negative.

barbegal 8y ago
Its mostly true. Here is the patent received in 2006 http://www.allindianpatents.com/patents/198254-a-new-mix-process-of-waste-plastics-aggregate-bitumen-for-flexible-pavement http://www.allindianpatents.com/patents/198254-a-new-mix-pro... Lots of roads in many countries have been paved using this technique however the exact numbers are tough to calculate. The 70 micron number is sort of wrong. The films used must be less than 70 microns in thickness (relatively thick plastic bag such that they can easily shred) but they are only shredded to between 2mm and 6mm in length/width.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  Oh, I'm not doubting that the method exists. I'm doubting that it is as efficient as portrayed in the article, a good solution for using plastic, and as widely used.
  - danans 8y ago
    Plastic litter is everywhere in India due to lack of litter management. In that reality, regardless of the efficiency, solutions like this that target the symptom rather than the root problem get attention.
    - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
      > Plastic litter is everywhere in India due to lack of litter management. Certainly this is true. But assume that litter management improved in India: they would still have to dispose of the plastic litter.
      - alanbernstein 8y ago
        Isn't the point that it can be disposed of by paving roads?
        ucaetano 8y ago
        The problem is scale. Indians use 10kg of plastic per person per year, so 13M tons per year. If India were to pave 10 thousand km of roads per year with this tar/plastic combinations (completely unrealistic), it would use up only 10 thousand tons of plastic, or a meager 0.8% of all plastic consumed in India.
        yitchelle 8y ago
        Perhaps after some years, that percentage will increase to "life changing" level. It all boils down to the motivation of the folks who has the means to make the change.
aaron695 8y ago
> The median household income per capita in the poorest states in India is under $1000/year. Just the cost of the toilet is much higher than the median monthly household income of one person. This is a myth of sorts. You'll find there will be nice smart phones in most households so a toilet is far from impossible. Subsistence farmers drag averages down (Since they don't earn money) so their out of state kids are often above the average and can well afford the £60 for their family home. The issues are not money but culture and supply chain. Watch - The surprising truth of open defecation in India | Sangita Vyas | TEDxWalledCity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0
r_singh 8y ago
You might be surprised to know that the govt. spends around 220$ to build a single toilet in small towns / villages in India under the Swachh Bharat's sanitary division. I even have a friend who found it super lucrative to build toilets around his factory for the govt. and hence took it up to build a few toilets every day to add a stable revenue source. This may not add up given the per capita, but that's how it is, welcome to India. Rural toiled fund allocation raised to Rs. 15000 per toilet:- https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/rural-toilet-fund-allocation-raised-to-rs-15000-per-unit/article23125148.ece https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/rural-to...
- vwcx 8y ago
  "The problem [in India] isn't just a lack of toilets -- it's a lack of toilets that people want to use." National Geographic's deep-dive on the issue: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/08/toilet-defecate-outdoors-stunting-sanitation/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/08/toilet-d...
  - r_singh 8y ago
    Yeah, I'm quite aware of that being an Indian and living here all my life. Bill gates has written about this problem as well. Heck we've even got comedy movies surrounding this issue. However, the toilet building programs are isolated from these facts, they don't even have proper maintenance programs in place to make sure their usable. Every infrastructural spend in India has leakage of money towards those who have power.

barbegal 8y ago

Its mostly true. Here is the patent received in 2006 http://www.allindianpatents.com/patents/198254-a-new-mix-process-of-waste-plastics-aggregate-bitumen-for-flexible-pavement http://www.allindianpatents.com/patents/198254-a-new-mix-pro... Lots of roads in many countries have been paved using this technique however the exact numbers are tough to calculate. The 70 micron number is sort of wrong. The films used must be less than 70 microns in thickness (relatively thick plastic bag such that they can easily shred) but they are only shredded to between 2mm and 6mm in length/width.

ucaetano 8y ago
Oh, I'm not doubting that the method exists. I'm doubting that it is as efficient as portrayed in the article, a good solution for using plastic, and as widely used.
- danans 8y ago
  Plastic litter is everywhere in India due to lack of litter management. In that reality, regardless of the efficiency, solutions like this that target the symptom rather than the root problem get attention.
  - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
    > Plastic litter is everywhere in India due to lack of litter management. Certainly this is true. But assume that litter management improved in India: they would still have to dispose of the plastic litter.
    - alanbernstein 8y ago
      Isn't the point that it can be disposed of by paving roads?
      - ucaetano 8y ago
        The problem is scale. Indians use 10kg of plastic per person per year, so 13M tons per year. If India were to pave 10 thousand km of roads per year with this tar/plastic combinations (completely unrealistic), it would use up only 10 thousand tons of plastic, or a meager 0.8% of all plastic consumed in India.
        yitchelle 8y ago
        Perhaps after some years, that percentage will increase to "life changing" level. It all boils down to the motivation of the folks who has the means to make the change.

aaron695 8y ago

> The median household income per capita in the poorest states in India is under $1000/year. Just the cost of the toilet is much higher than the median monthly household income of one person. This is a myth of sorts. You'll find there will be nice smart phones in most households so a toilet is far from impossible. Subsistence farmers drag averages down (Since they don't earn money) so their out of state kids are often above the average and can well afford the £60 for their family home. The issues are not money but culture and supply chain. Watch - The surprising truth of open defecation in India | Sangita Vyas | TEDxWalledCity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0

r_singh 8y ago

You might be surprised to know that the govt. spends around 220$ to build a single toilet in small towns / villages in India under the Swachh Bharat's sanitary division. I even have a friend who found it super lucrative to build toilets around his factory for the govt. and hence took it up to build a few toilets every day to add a stable revenue source. This may not add up given the per capita, but that's how it is, welcome to India. Rural toiled fund allocation raised to Rs. 15000 per toilet:- https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/rural-toilet-fund-allocation-raised-to-rs-15000-per-unit/article23125148.ece https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/rural-to...

vwcx 8y ago
"The problem [in India] isn't just a lack of toilets -- it's a lack of toilets that people want to use." National Geographic's deep-dive on the issue: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/08/toilet-defecate-outdoors-stunting-sanitation/ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/08/toilet-d...
- r_singh 8y ago
  Yeah, I'm quite aware of that being an Indian and living here all my life. Bill gates has written about this problem as well. Heck we've even got comedy movies surrounding this issue. However, the toilet building programs are isolated from these facts, they don't even have proper maintenance programs in place to make sure their usable. Every infrastructural spend in India has leakage of money towards those who have power.