Use of recycled plastic as fine aggregate in cementitious composites: A review

Abstract

Significant growth in the consumption of plastic products is observed all over the world in recent years; this has contributed to increasing the production of plastic waste. Reuse of plastic waste in the production of concrete or mortar appears as an environmentally friendly solution for getting rid of plastic waste, due to its ecological and economic advantages. Furthermore, it leads to a decrease in plastic waste incineration or the proportion of plastic waste in landfills. Several studies presented the properties of cementitious composites (mortar and concrete) containing different types of plastic waste as aggregate (PWA). This review paper summarizes the previous studies until 2019, discussing the use of recycled plastic aggregate as fine aggregate in cementitious composites and its impact on physical, mechanical properties and durability. To present a comprehensive review, a total of 103 studies were discussed. This paper begins by illustrating the types of plastics and recycled plastics and plastics recycling process. Followed by a discussion of the PWA influence on cementitious composites properties in three sections; physical properties, mechanical properties and durability respectively. Furthermore, thermal conductivity and fire behaviour are discussed in a separate section. In addition to relationships between concrete properties. Many recommendations for future studies are provided.