Re-use of Plastic Waste as Palletized Aggregates for Concrete Infrastructure

Abstract
Solid waste management is one of the big issues in Pakistan. Disposal of the solid waste is a major problem for the industry which is increasing day by day throughout the world . However, these wastes can be used in
concrete in the form of coarse aggregate. This research demonstrates the feasibility of beneficial effects that can be achieved by using recycled plastic as replacement of coarse aggregates in concrete. Performance of
concrete mixtures having 5%, 10%, 15% ,20%, 25% & 30% of plastic waste as pelletized coarse aggregate has been investigated. Standard procedures were adopted to determine various strengths and durability tests of
the concrete. The results showed that the replacement of pelletized aggregate beyond 10% affected the properties significantly where as the replacement of pelletized aggregate up to 10% caused no major changes in the
characteristics of concrete.

Introduction
The quantity of solid waste is expanding rapidly. It is estimated that the rate of expansion is doubled every 10 years. This is due to the rapid growth of the population as well as the industrial sector (Phaiboon and Mallika,
2007). In a report, the National Council on Public Works Improvement identified the solid-waste crisis as an area of the infrastructure with great needs for improvement (Rebeiz et al., 1993). The solid-waste crisis is important
from an environmental and economical point of view. As landfill areas are rapidly depleting, the cost of solid-waste disposal is rapidly increasing. The cost for solid-waste management was, on an average, $2.7-3.6/t in 1979.
The cost is now more than $18/t and, in many localities; the cost exceeds $90/t ("Our" 1989, http://5gyres.org/global_research/).
Among the solid-waste materials, plastics have received a lot of attention because they are generally not biodegradable. On a weight basis, there are about 10 billion kg of plastic wastes in the U.S. per year, which
represents about 7% by weight of the total solid wastes (Thayer, 1989). However, plastic wastes are very visible, since they constitute about 30% by volume of the total solid wastes (Kline 1989). (Karim et al., 1992). The
various types of plastics in municipal wastes are Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), High density polyethylene (HDPE), Low density polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene(PP), Polystyrene (PS) etc.
The major users of plastic are the packaging industries, consuming about 41%, 20% in building and construction, 15% in distribution and large industries, 9% in electrical and electronic, 7% in automotive, 2% in agriculture
and 6% in other uses. (Zoorob and Suparma, 2000).
Among the various types of plastics, the largest component of the plastic waste is low density polyethylene/linear low density polyethylene (LDPE) at about 23%, followed by 17.3% of high density polyethylene, 18.5% of
polypropylene, 12.3% of polystyrene (PS/extended PS), 10.7% polyvinyl chloride, 8.5% polyethylene terephthalate and 9.7% of other types. (Zoorob and Suparma, 2000).
The use of recycled plastics in concrete is relatively a new development in the world of concrete technology and lot of research must go in before this material is actively used in concrete construction. The use of plastics in
concrete lowered the strength of resultant concrete, therefore, the research must be oriented towards ternary systems that helps in overcoming this drawback of use of plastics in concrete.

Temperature Variation w.r.t Plastic Waste In

Percentage
Replaced Plastic Waste in Percentage
Rate of
change of 0 % 5% 10 % 15 % 20 % 25 % 30 %
Conducting Split Tensile Test on Cylinders Failure pattern of Control Concrete Failure pattern of Plastic Concrete
temperature

59-34 55-32 55-34 56-36 54-35 52-34 50-33

(T2 - T1)

25 23 21 20 19 18 17
Difference

Total 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
time(hrs)
Plastic Aggregate Thermal Resistivity Apparatus ∆= (T2- T1) / t
3.125 2.875 2.625 2.5 2.375 2.25 2.12

Bulk Density vs Plastic Aggregate

CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. It is obvious from the results that recycled plastic aggregates may be used as replacement in concrete for
regular aggregates.

2. Although the addition of plastic aggregate decreases the strength of concrete therefore it can only be used
as non-load bearing structural components, such as, partition walls, side walks lean concrete etc.

3. Replacement of pelletized aggregate in concrete increases its ductility.

4. The presence of plastic aggregates in the concrete increases its insulating ability therefore it can be used
in extreme weather conditions.

5. Recycled plastic aggregates (R.P.A) results in light weight concrete

6. Pelletized aggregate can be a solution to reduce the plastic waste.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Khan Shahzada Funding Agency

Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Gencturk Bora (USA) & Dr. Muhammad Fahad
MSc. Scholar: Engr. Tariq Ali

Research Assistants: Engr. Ahmad Zeb

Engr. M. Umer Khalil