Concrete blend with E-waste plastic for sustainable future

Abstract

Abstract Electronic waste or E-waste, according to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive of the European Union, is defined as waste material consisting of any broken or unwanted electronic appliance which includes computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones, and other electronic items that have been discarded by their original users. According to WEEE, after several studies on E-waste, it has been examined that five categories of materials found in it viz., ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, glass, plastics, and others. 60% of metals found in E-waste in common and a plastic which is 15% are the second largest component by weight. Utilization of crushed E–waste materials in the building construction instead of conventional materials helps in reducing the cost of concrete manufacturing. The objectives of this experimental study is to partially replace the E-waste plastics for conventional coarse aggregate, to minimize the pollution by reusing the same in the required shape and to understand the behaviour of M20 concrete by conducting strength tests on it. The coarse aggregate was partially replaced with different percentages of E-waste plastic by volume from 0 to 20% and based on the lab tests as per IS standards it as conclude that the utilization of plastic aggregate in concrete reduces the unit weight of concrete thus reduction in dead weight of the structure and hence it can be consumed as a light weight concrete. The value of slump cone is kept on increasing which shows the inadaptability of plastic to absorb water. Compressive strength and flexural strength decreases with increase in the percentage of E-waste whereas the split tensile increases with the increment which shows that E-waste plastics can be used as an alternative material in proper ratio.