Use of Waste Polypropylene Plastic in Geotechnical Applications

Abstract

Presently, human mankind is facing the biggest problem in terms of saving the environment from solid waste disposal. The problem of pollution is becoming more critical because of the huge percentage of plastics in the municipal solid waste, especially one-time used plastics. Research is being carried out to explore the methods for the utilization of these plastic wastes for any of civil engineering applications. In geotechnical engineering, the well-established techniques of soil stabilization soil reinforcement are often used to improve the geotechnical materials through the addition of various binding and bonding agents. One of the most possible uses of these waste plastics is to use them in some of the geotechnical applications. In the present investigation, an effort is made to improve the strength of sandy soil by the inclusion of plastic to the sand and sandcrete. The plastic was added to sand in two forms such as fibers form and molten form. Fibers that used were of 12 mm length, whereas molten plastic was obtained by melting the plastic glasses obtained from NITW campus. Uniaxial compressive strength tests were conducted on the samples. In the present investigation, an effort is made to improve the strength of sandy soil. Experimental results have indicated that polypropylene plastic waste can be used in the stabilization of loose sandy soils.