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.
Highlights
Worldwide, the weight of the organic wastes that are produced every year is almost 38 billion metric tons [1, 2]
For the mentioned percentages of recycled plastic and decrease in compressive strength of 34% to 67% was registered [16]. This does not subdue the feasibility of the idea as investigating the mechanical properties of the resultant cement concluded that despite the diminution in such properties, the Plastic lightweight concrete (PLWC) containing 50 and 70% of Plastic lightweight aggregate Plastic Lightweight Aggregate (PLWA) displayed characteristics that made it meet the requirements for being employed as a lightweight construction material, 'class II structural concretes' as specified in the ACI-213 functional classification [17]
It has been confirmed that adding plastic aggregate reduces compressive strength but the manner in which the concrete formed a more solid section at the top and bottom sections of the cube needs further investigation
Summary
The weight of the organic wastes that are produced every year is almost 38 billion metric tons [1, 2]. According to previous studies in the USA in 2018, plastic comprised about 13% of Municipal solid waste and about 18% of the wastes that were land filled [10,11]. These wasted materials can be used in construction as aggregate substitute [12]. This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the amount of solid waste that will go to land filling. As its effect on thermo-mechanical properties [13] and this study continues focusing on the compressive strength
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
