Paradise Regained
A thick translucent envelope of mist rolled down the steep mountain slopes and embraced the ripe apple orchards which were waiting to be harvested. Nestled within the majestic Dhauladhar range stood the quaint, sleepy, tiny hamlet of Kaffer which never featured on the average Indian traveler’s bucket list until very recently when throngs of trekking enthusiasts and mountain lovers started camping here for a day or two to savour the pristine beauty of nature. They ate, drank, made merry, and left trails of plastic trash wherever they went destroying the fragile ecosystem of the mountains. This irked Roshan, the ten-year-old boy whose soul was intertwined with the verdant meadows and the deodar trees of Kaffer.
View of Kaffer village
Roshan, along with a group of local youths had organized a clean-up drive in their native village and geared up to control the use of single-use plastic by spreading awareness about the hazardous effects of plastic use and encouraging everyone to use paper bags as alternatives. They even got in touch with the local panchayat and installed dustbins to combat the plastic menace. Nothing much changed. The tourists continued their irresponsible habits of tossing empty packets of chips and biscuits, water bottles, liquor bottles, and polystyrene cups here and there. Well, not just the outsiders but also the locals shared the onus of plastic pollution in Kaffer. The weekly market which saw footfalls even from people of neighboring villages was a place of bustling activity resulting in heaps of plastic waste being disposed by vegetable vendors and food stall owners which were often ingested by cattle. Sustainable management of solid waste was now a growing concern with the overwhelming number of visitors thronging this serene village and also because of the irresponsible behavior of the locals.
Roshan’s Chemistry teacher at the local village school motivated him, “Look Roshan, we cannot do away with plastic from our daily life unless we invent its biodegradable substitute. This apart, if we could endeavour to produce fuel from plastic, it would be a revolutionary invention.” Those words of his teacher had sowed the seeds of research in Roshan’s mind and he fought against all odds to give wings to his dreams with the support of his benevolent Headmaster, teachers, and the support of his parents who wanted their son to realize his dreams.
Bagging a graduation degree in Chemistry from Shimla was no mean feat for a simple village lad hailing from a remote Himalayan village where education was a privilege enjoyed by a handful. However, strong conviction and a passion for creating a difference propelled Roshan to obtain a
Master’s degree and then pursue PhD in Materials Science and Engineering in Delhi from the hallowed temple of learning, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). But the initial days weren’t easy for him to get accustomed to the cosmopolitan and fast-paced lifestyle of Delhi. He was like a fish out of the water
– naïve about the ways of a big city and found himself overwhelmed upon joining IIT.
One November morning Roshan encountered a strange sight he had never seen before. It was 8 o’clock and he got up from his bed to open the windows of his hostel room only to find that nothing was visible as far as the eyes could see. A toxic haze of thick smog had cut the visibility to zero. A nauseating sensation hit his eyes and nostrils. It was unbearable. He quickly shut the windows. Later that day he learned from his friends that air quality in Delhi had deteriorated to hazardous levels forcing the state government to shut schools and urging people to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible. He also came to know that stubble burning by farmers of neighboring states is a major reason behind Delhi’s high pollution levels, further worsened by vehicle fumes, construction work, and industrial emissions. All these turn Delhi’s air into a lethal gas chamber of particulate matter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide rendering the air unbreathable and reducing the average lifespan of the residents every year. What is unthinkable in his village is an annual crisis which the Delhiites are accustomed to by now. Roshan lay confined to his bedroom for most of the day, deeply anguished thinking about the children and the elderly who are forced to bear the biggest brunt of this health crisis. That night Roshan had an epiphany. Why not use this stubble left by the farmers after mechanical harvest to devise a biodegradable and cost-effective substitute for single-use plastic? He spent the next few days reading different scientific journals from the library, talking to his PhD guide and researching about the feasibility of such a product. In the meantime, he submitted his PhD thesis and started looking for a postdoctoral position. Eventually, he secured a postdoctoral position in the department of material engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru which turned out to be a turning point in his quest for inventing biodegradable plastic from leftover stubble.
After joining the research institute he shared his thoughts and started to discuss with his host about sustainable alternatives. Thereafter, he conceived the idea to synthesize polyurethane film using a non-edible oil; castor oil and ground rice stubble to prepare biodegradable plastic. It would be cost- effective, environment friendly and a long-term solution to the dual crises of Delhi’s abysmally poor air quality index as well as to the detrimental hazards of plastics upon the health of human beings and environment. But every attempt resulted in failure. Undeterred in his mission, Roshan didn’t give up. After one year of relentless effort, he successfully prepared the polyurethane film. He mixed castor oil, ground rice stubble, and a chemical compound named hexamethylene diisocyanate and heated all precursors at moderate temperature. Next day he arrived at the laboratory and to his utter surprise, found that the polyurethane film had been prepared. He was overcome with unbridled happiness when he could make everyday household items like carry bags, tumblers, water bottles and cutlery with his polyurethane film. There was no stopping him. He filed a patent with his host that got approved the next year. Media reports, interviews, publications in renowned journals followed. Both small and big business-owners approached him to commercialize his innovation that attracted a lot of attention. Amidst all this noise and fame, Roshan’s soul yearned to go back to the quiet, snow-hooded mountains that whispered his name to the gentle wind rustling through the leaves of pine and deodar trees. He realized that he had got the perfect launch pad to fulfill the dream that he had been chasing for years. Back home in the tiny, sleepy hamlet a proud father couldn’t hold back his tears of joy hearing about his
son’s achievements that was now the pride of his village. In those tears there was a tinker of hope to see a plastic-free Kaffer that would pave a path forward for others by letting people know that simple changes in behavior in everyday life would make a big difference if we all did it together.
Carry bag, cutlery, and tumbler made using polyurethane developed at IISc lab