Development of Bricks Using Plastic Wastes

Abstract

Modern world is facing a serious situation of waste management, especially plastic waste. There has been a considerable imbalance between the availability of conventional building materials and their demand in the recent past. On the other hand various type of sands such as foundry sand are abundantly available and the disposal of waste plastics (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate, Poly Propylene etc.) is a biggest challenge, as repeated recycling of PET bottles pose a potential danger of being transformed to a carcinogenic material and only a small proportion of PET bottles are being recycled. In the present study, the effectiveness of PET bottles on manufacturing of bricks is analyzed and properties of plastic-soil bricks are assessed. PET bottles are melted and into this molten plastic mix, sand is added in various proportions. Plastic-soil bricks using M sand and as well as foundry sand are manufactured. Various standard tests on bricks are conducted as per IS 3495 (Parts 1–4) such as compressive strength test, water absorption test, efflorescence test, hardness test, soundness test, impact test, thermal resistance test, prism Test. Through the results obtained from the standard tests, the optimum percentage of plastic is estimated. It is studied that plastic-soil bricks show excellent behavior when compared to conventional burnt clay bricks.