Analysis of the Effect of Plastic Waste Strips on Characteristics of Fine-Grained Soils

Abstract

Most of the developing countries like India are facing a severe crisis in solid waste management. Among all, plastic waste is considered to be more harmful because of its non-biodegradable nature and abundant usage. The current work deals with an engineering technique in order to eliminate this problem of plastic waste management, by using plastic waste as a potential reinforcing element in soils. This saves a lot of effort, intellect and money which would be otherwise invested to manage plastic waste from various sources. In this study, the effects of mixing low-density polyethylene (LDPE) strips on some of the physical properties of fine-grained soils are presented. These LDPE strips act like reinforcement for the soils and could be well used in the construction of embankments and roads. In the present analysis, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, proctor compaction test and bender/extender tests were conducted. Four different types of fine-grained soils (i.e., CH, CL, MH and ML) were taken, and five different percentages by weight (i.e., 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1%) of LDPE strips were added to each of these soils. The optimum percentage of LDPE strips that result in maximum improvement of soil characteristics was evaluated. It was observed that the UCS value increases up to a certain percentage of plastic waste and then it starts decreasing. Poisson’s ratio was found to decrease with increase in plastic content, thus increasing the soil stiffness.