Recycled Plastic as an Aggregate in Concrete

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-19-2021

Abstract

Developing countries are suffering from the negative effect of accumulating local wastes and garbage, in which it increases the level of pollution, affects the public health and increases the percentage of epidemic [4]. Plastic waste often ends up in landfills or oceans for it is non-biodegradable and attempts to destroy it only result in more pollution. Repurposing of plastic waste into the construction industry is a way to decrease the amount of plastic waste, while simultaneously, limiting the over-dredging of sand and other natural materials. This research used experimental method to measure the effect of integrating plastic wastes in construction industry by reusing these plastic wastes and turning it into a useful cheap building material. The partial containment of repurposed plastics as aggregate in concrete mix is tested by experimenting the properties that arise when different percentages of plastic aggregate are used in a concrete mixture. The experimental program replaces cement with plastic at different percentages and the experiment revealed that replacing 10% of cement with plastic presents the better results as stated in this article. The specimens are tested and compared with a control specimen of 0% plastic in terms of compressive strength, unit weight and percentage of cracks. The results show that repurposed plastic aggregate in a certain percentage has no significant difference in the quality of the concrete. Therefore, polices mandating segregation and sorting of wastes for recycling and repurposing intentions should be issued so as to aid the use of these materials in more than one field, thus, saving the ecosystem.

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS