Vizag to be the first South India city to manufacture tiles from plastic waste

Vizag would be the first city in South India to recycle plastic waste for manufacturing tiles. The technology has been transferred to Vyzag Bio-Energy Fuel Private Limited in Vizag from National Physical Laboratory of New Delhi.

The technology, developed by scientist S.K. Dhawan and his team at NPL, has been selected in the list of Smart Fifty Innovations by the department of science and technology and IIM-Calcutta.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Dhawan said, “The idea was to evolve a solution to the huge threat looming on the environment due to plastic waste. Only 20 percent of plastic waste is recycled and the rest is dumped, causing a huge impact all over including marine life. There is a huge scope to recycle these wastes.”

Tiles, having the abilities of non-breaking and water-resistance, scientists believe that the tiles would be commercially viable.

The cost of the tiles ranges from Rs 50-60 per sq ft. 600 plastic bags could be used to manufacture one tile and 42,000 bags for a slab measuring 7×4 sq ft.

Dhawan asked, “When wastes are being recycled to lay roads, why we should not use them for tiles.”

“Plastic recycling is growing in India and the market is huge. We should focus more on how to get wealth from wastes”, mentioned the scientist.

The tiles would be used for pavements and jogging paths.