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Plastic bags as building blocks

— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Not a game: Plastic bricks are set to go into real houses.

World over, civic bodies are grappling with the problem of solid waste, especially safe disposal of large amounts of plastic waste. None of the local bodies in Kerala has found a green solution for plastic waste management in spite of the State government banning the manufacture, sale and use of plastic carry bags of thickness below 30 microns.

Now, the Koyilandy municipality in Kozhikode district is getting ready to launch a project making use of plastic carry bags to manufacture plastic bricks for construction of houses. The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project, under the Department of Science and Technology of the State government, is providing the technical know-how to the municipality.

Already a few rounds of discussion have been held between STED officials and the elected representatives of the municipality. The experimental project will be the first of its kind in the State, says Mohanan Manalil, project director, STED.

The technique is simply to repurpose this environmentally unfriendly material. Usually, non-biodegradable plastic is segregated and sold to plastic recycling companies. However, plastic carry bags accumulate in backyards and junk bins. It will be these non-recyclable bags that will go into the making of the bricks, he says.

In fact, the use of non-recyclable plastic such as carry bags is high in the State as in any other part of the globe. Plastic carry bags, it has been proved, can take nearly 1,500 years to decompose. The overuse of plastic has caused severe havoc to the planet.

Elucidating the project details, Mr. Manalil says that non-recyclable plastic waste with thickness ranging from 20 microns to 100 microns will be collected and ground into 10-mm granules. These granules will then be melted at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius. And finally, the liquefied plastic will be thoroughly mixed with baby metal, giving it a concrete form.

Just as soap is manufactured, cut and packed into fine shape, the new product is cut into a standardised mould. Thus, the plastic brick is ready. The simple project has often been displayed at school exhibitions at the micro level. Today, it is reaching the commercial stage, he says. The plastic brick requires no cement, no sand and no plastering. No painting is required for exterior walls and even for interiors of the house if the occupant is particular of avoiding frills. Colours can be used according to the taste of the individual, he adds. Machinery for the brick-manufacturing unit has to be tailor-made. There are such machine-manufacturing units in Ernakulam and Thrissur. Talks have been held in this regard with a Thrissur-based company.

Plastic bricks are cost-effective when compared to cement, hollow, wire-cut and ordinary bricks made at brick-kilns. Initially, the municipality will have to invest between Rs.15 lakh and Rs.20 lakh for the project for setting up the centralised machine unit. The civic body will seek the support of private entrepreneurs in the successful implementation of the project.

Already, STED has successfully implemented a project with joint partnership of NATPAC using plastic waste in lieu of bitumen in construction of roads. More than 10 per cent of the bitumen usually required has been saved in case of construction of such roads in Kozhikode city. Apart from developing a technology for safe disposal of plastic, the project will also generate employment in the region. Kudumbasree volunteers will be engaged in the segregation of plastic waste and their services will again be used in the manufacture of plastic bricks. Besides, the municipality will happily get rid of its solid-waste problem, says Mr. Manalil.

All the 41 wards in the municipality will have a source recovery unit to collect solid waste. The biodegradable waste will be converted into manure while other waste such as paper will be sent to recycling units. The plastic waste will be graded, some will be converted into pellets, which have a market value of Rs.45 a kg, and other into granules which will be sold at Rs.30 a kg. The non-recyclable plastic waste, which has no takers, will be used for manufacturing the plastic bricks, he says.

Mr. Manalil says that the civic body has resources and manpower, thus giving a positive side to the implementation of the project. It only needs feasible schemes and know-how to fruitfully implement them. Plastic carry bags can be handy and highly useable in our daily lives.

But their safe disposal has put us in a quandary. Now a municipality in collaboration with a government agency has come up with an alternative solution.

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