Utilization of recycled plastic for plastic-based concrete

Abstract

The environmental aspects of sustainable development in the construction industry consist in the utilization of secondary raw materials in a design and construction of new structures. The fact that China significantly reduced the import of plastic waste in 2017 raises the question of dealing with this waste in other states. A complicated recycling process of waste plastics puts pressure on scientific community to find new, more efficient ways of using this waste. The paper deals with the behaviour and mechanical properties of a completely innovative material called waste plastic-based concrete composed of natural aggregate and plastic waste which replaces cement as a binder. The completely unique composition of this concrete required to firstly test production technology and subsequently to conduct standard quasi-static experimental tests to obtain basic knowledge about the behaviour and mechanical properties of this composite. The obtained knowledge show that special attention must be paid to the production of the material which takes place under elevated temperature. The investigated composite has a relatively high tensile strength compared to conventional concrete and brittle fracture behaviour. In the next phases of the research the optimization of the production technologies and the composition of the composite will be provided.