Sustainability

Sustainability of the whole project and the agricultural island are the main concerns to the
implementation of our plans. The project plans are to reduce wastes for a long term in Tamil
Nadu without causing harm to the environment. Moreover, it is also to help improve the living
conditions of the people in Tamil Nadu in social and economic point of views. Sustainability
based on environment, social and economic must be taken into serious consideration.
1. Environment
The main raw materials to construct the building blocks of the agricultural island are
recycled plastics, which are polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene, they are all 100%
recycled materials. Polypropylene is a tough material it will not break easily hence it does not
need to be replaced frequently. Polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene are all
thermoplastic which become liquid at their respective melting points without significant
degradation. Therefore, damaged or old building blocks can be easily injection molded and then
recycled and reuse to form other materials. It will significantly reduce the energy needed to burn
the unwanted plastics by the people in Tamil Nadu and reduce the release of greenhouse gases to
the environment. Moreover, with the creation of segregation site and recycle centre, there will be
reduce of open air burning by people in Tamil Nadu which subsequently reduces the release of
toxic gases such as dioxin and furan which are dangerous to the health and environment.
Furthermore, by recycling a ton of plastic it saves up to 16.3 barrels of oil and 3m 3 of landfills
(Kinhal), as plastics are non-bio degradable waste. The land can then be use for more useful and
environment activities. As the usage of plastic is high in Tamil Nadu, it is highly sustainable in
the requirement of raw materials to produce the agriculture island without causing pollution to
the environment.
2. Social
On the social point of view, the agriculture island is built on the sea in Tamil Nadu,
which are easily accessed. It provides more agriculture lands for the villagers nearby to work as
farmers. Subsequently, it creates work opportunity for the villagers when workers are needed to
build the building blocks. The building blocks are made of 100% recycled materials, without
combustion, hence building of the floating blocks will not cause any health problem to the locals
at Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the living conditions and quality of air in Tamil Nadu will be greatly
improved. Hence, with several recycling campaigns held out in Tamil Nadu and positive impacts
to the people from the agriculture island, the younger generation will be instilled with the
knowledge of recycling, thus continuing the project to a larger scale.
3. Economic
As the agriculture island is built with 100% recycled material, the cost of maintaining the
island for a long run will be very low. It also saved up a lot of energy from the burning of plastic
wastes. With the segregation centre separating the general waste, food waste and animal dungs
can be send to the biomass industry which in turn provide organic fertilisers for the crops on the
agriculture islands in Tamil Nadu.