K.Ahmed Khan - Scientist Who Used Plastic For Road Construction

K.Ahmed Khan is an Indian scientist who eventually turned into a businessman. He was the first scientist to successfully use plastic for construction of roads. He is the founder of KK Plastic Waste Management Pvt Ltd. The idea of using plastic in roads came to his mind when there were protests to ban plastics and he wondered if the recycled plastic could be mixed with bitumen to lay roads. Their innovation can be seen in almost 1000 km of roads like Lalbagh road, old Madras road etc.

 While conducting research, they decided to experiment it on Bangalore roads. He used the mixture to fill in various potholes in the city. He asked his brother Ahmed Khan to conduct a deep research on this topic. He was studying chemical engineering at RV College of Engineering at the time. After nearly 2 years of research, he was positive about the idea and approached experts for approving it. After getting approval from Central Road Research Institute in New Delhi and CM's encouragement, they were paid 11 lakhs from the government and laid 250 km of roads. The company buys around 5 tonnes of plastic every day at a rate of Rs.6 per kg. The waste is cleaned in a shredder and stored for around a week to drain out moisture. It is then mixed with bitumen to lay roads. India produces 1,23,000tonnes of plastic waste each day and if we start using all this plastic to lay roads, the plastic problem can be solved.

By: NehaMaheshwari

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Ahmed_Khan