Recycling plastic waste materials for building and construction Materials: A minireview

Abstract

The production of plastic wastes is a growing environmental problem in the era of industrialization and economic growth due to the varied applications of polymeric materials. The wastes, which are mainly landfilled pollute land and waste resources due to the toxic and resistant to biodegradation nature of their components. Therefore, innovative approaches to channel plastic wastes away from landfills are imperative. In this mini-review, recycling of plastic wastes to materials useful in the building and construction sector as a viable solution to their environmental accumulation was focused on. Using pre-existent empirical studies, it was established that plastics can be used alone or in combination with other materials at varied percentage compositions to make various building and construction materials. These include bricks, blocks, tiles, asphalt, bitumen, geosynthetics, door panels, insulation materials and cementitious composites. These applications are enhancers to environmental sustainability as they reduce the mining and transport of conventional building and construction materials, which result to atmospheric pollution. It was noted that there was need to commercialize the applications by advancing to better plastic harvesting technologies and cost-effective recycling approaches for wastes with a variety of plastics. Assessing the lifecycle of recycling plastic materials for building and construction in addition to devising regulations to standardize the processes involved was recommended to validate the ability of the advances to enhance sustainability.