Use of recycled plastic waste in concrete composites - A review

Abstract

A recent report states that, an annual plastic waste (PW) of 3.3 million metric tons was generated out of which only 7 to 8 % of PW is recycled. Most of the PW is not bio-degradable and becomes as landfills and persist for centuries. According to waste management principles, the consumed PW were treated by three main method. Land filling (in India major amount of PW was simply deposited as land filling), incineration (Toxic gases such as dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, and mercury are released when plastics are burned),and recycling (converting waste plastics into useful goods). Recycling of PW is considered to be reliable method to reduce the environmental impact. Reusing of PW in constructional sectors will be the ideal method for disposing the PW. This paper summarizes the research performed on the utilization of recycled plastic waste as a replacement of coarse aggregate and fine aggregate in concrete composites and its impact on physical, mechanical and durabilityproperties.