Properties and durability of concrete added with recycled polypropylene/polyethylene-based food packaging waste material

Abstract

The plastic waste from food packaging is hard to be recycled. Different material composition of the polymers makes the mixing impossible. Therefore, the possibility of adding selected Polypropylene / Polyethylene - based materials (PP / PE) in concrete for building applications may be a solution to reduce the waste management. In this study, investigations were carried out on the compressive and flexural strength, the elastic modulus, the density, the workability, the porosity and the water permeability. The durability parameters, such as the freeze/thaw resistance and the accelerated carbonation were also measured on concrete specimens with the addition of recycled PP/PE pellets from food packaging. The results showed that as the addition of plastic material slightly decreased and remained around 4 %, the density, workability, and mechanical properties of the concrete were comparable to the original cementitious material. The porosity was variable, while the water permeability as well as the chloride resistance were not significantly affected by the addition of 4 % plastic aggregates and remained within acceptable values. On the other hand, the freeze/thaw resistance, was significantly lowered in concrete with plastic aggregates in form of granulates.