Elsevier

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 112, Part 1, 20 January 2016, Pages 473-482
Journal of Cleaner Production

Review
Use of different forms of waste plastic in concrete – a review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.042Get rights and content

Abstract

The consumption of various forms of plastics is a challenging environment protection issue. All forms of consumed plastic become waste and require large areas of land for storage because several tons of waste plastics cannot be fully recycled at once. The low biodegradability of plastic and the presence in large quantities of waste plastic negatively impact the environment. Previously, various studies were performed to identify safe and environmentally friendly methods for disposing of plastics. Recently, various forms of plastics have been incorporated in concrete to prevent the direct contact of plastics with the environment because concrete has a longer service life. However, this method is not a dominant method for disposing of waste plastic. This paper presents an overview of some published research regarding the use of waste plastic in concrete. The effects of waste plastic addition on the fresh, mechanical and thermal properties of concrete are also presented in this paper.

Introduction

Currently, various forms of plastics are used around the world. Large amounts of plastic are used in packing films, wrapping materials, shopping and garbage bags, fluid containers, toys, household industrial products and building material. However, the benefits of plastic use are suppressed by its harmful impacts on the environment. Subramanian (2000) reported that plastics are a small but significant component of waste streams. The plastic wastes accounts for 10.62 ± 5.12% of the total stored wastes in the old landfill, among which, 69.13% is plastic bags (white PE plastic bags accounted for 11.34%; colored PE plastic bags 29.77%; other plastic bags 28.02%), and 30.87% is other plastics (incl. PP, PVC, PS, etc.) (Zhou et al., 2014). Papong et al., 2014, Badia et al., 2012, Raghatate, 2012, Nampoothiri et al., 2010 and Dullius et al. (2006) revealed that thousands of years are necessary for the biodegradation of plastics. This results in the accumulation of plastic wastes and causes serious environmental problems due to littering and illegal landfilling or incineration. Saikia and Brito (2012) reported that waste plastics reduce the water permeability of soils and affect soil fertility, which often results in the blockage of wastewater drains. In developing countries, the growth rate of most cities exceeds 4% per annum. The issue at stake is that the 20–40% of municipal revenues spent in most countries to manage the waste is not enough to handle the rising trend of the waste generated (Othman et al., 2013). India generates approximately 56 hundred thousand tons of plastic waste annually, of which Delhi alone contributes 689.5 tons each day. Approximately 60 percent of the total plastic waste in Delhi is collected and recycled every day, while 40 percent remains uncollected or is discarded as litter. Plastic solid waste can primarily be treated by re-extrusion, mechanical, chemical and energy recovery schemes and technologies (Al-Salem et al., 2009). Zhanga et al. (2010) reported that the quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has rapidly increased in China due to growing urbanization, population growth and industrialization. The total amount of MSW increased from 31.3 million tons in 1980 to 212 million tons in 2006, and the waste generation rate increased from 0.50 kg/capita/day in 1980 to 0.98 kg/capita/year in 2006. The increasing demand and decreasing landfill space are forcing to researchers for finding the alternative plastic solid waste disposal (PSW) options.

The only material that is analogous to plastic that is currently used in India is concrete (Bhogayata and Arora, 2011; Kumar and Kaushik, 2003; Sivaraja and Kandasamy, 2007). Currently, approximately 370 million cubic meters of concrete are consumed in India every year, which is expected to reach approximately 580 million cubic meters by 2022. Although the use of these materials is increasing daily in their respective fields, the service lives and properties of the products are different. Concrete structures are constructed to serve humanity for several years, while the service life of plastics is much shorter. Because the disposal of plastics after use increases ecology strain, it is important to find different methods for safely disposing of used plastics. Polyester concrete (PC) products can also be used for the long-term disposal of PET waste (Rebeiz and Craft, 1995). Previously, various studies were performed to determine safe and environmentally friendly methods for disposing of plastics. However, increasing the service life of plastics by incorporating them into concrete is one possible environmentally friendly approach for their safe disposal. Araghi et al. (2015) reported that the concrete containing PET particles, as an alternative aggregate, has better resistance against sulfuric acid attack in industrial structures and sewer pipes.

The expected benefits of inserting waste plastic in concrete are presented graphically in Fig. 1. The first column in Fig. 1 shows that the usable lifespan of concrete is much greater than its non-usable life span. In the second column, the lifespan of usable plastics is much lower than its waste service life on earth. In subsequent columns, the uses of different waste products in concrete are shown. From these columns, it can be concluded that the inclusion of waste products, such as fly ash and waste plastics, can be used to safely dispose of waste products.

A large study was conducted to study the use of various forms of plastics in concrete, such as waste plastic flakes (Rai et al., 2012), polyethylene terephthalate particles (PET) (Araghi et al., 2015, Cordoba et al., 2013, Rahmani et al., 2013), high density polyethylene waste (HDPE) (Naik et al., 1996), plastic coarse aggregate (PCA) (Saikia and Brito, 2013, Saikia and Brito, 2014, Benosman et al., 2013, Mathew et al., 2013), PET waste (Fraternali et al., 2011), shredded fibers of polythene bags (Bhogayata et al., 2013, Sivaraja et al., 2010), PET bottle fibers (Foti, 2013, Ramadevi and Manju, 2012, Sivaraja et al., 2010), granulated plastic waste (Ismail and Al-Hashmi, 2010), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe (Kou et al., 2009), as shown in Fig. 2. The various forms of plastics used in previous research studies to replace different constituents of concrete are shown in Table 1. (PETCORE, 2012) reported using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) flakes in concrete. Based on the consumption of RPET fibers and flakes, Ingrao, 2014 reported using RPET fiber for manufacturing panels, which resulted in the consumption of recycled PET fibers without compromising the durability of the end product. Recently a cradle-to-grave study conducted by Dormer et al. (2013), on carbon footprints produced by recycled polyethylene terephthalate, It was found that the cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of 1 kg of recycled polyethylene terephthalate trays containing 85% recycled content was 1.538 kg CO2e.

This paper focuses on the results obtained by various researchers after adding various forms of plastic to concrete. Most research shows that the addition of plastic affects the workability, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, split tensile strength, thermal conductivity and slightly enhances the abrasion and flexural strength. In addition, it is recommended that the surface of the plastic does not react with the matrix. The surface of the plastic must be treated with a reactive material, such as silica fume, metakaolin, slag, so that the pozzolanic reaction enhances the strength of the concrete by reacting with the surface coated material.

Section snippets

Fresh and mechanical properties of plastic fiber reinforced concrete

Various researchers have studied the use of various forms of waste plastic. The effects of replacing or adding plastic on the properties of concrete in the green state and the mechanical properties of concrete as studied by various researchers are discussed in this section.

Various field applications of plastic fiber reinforced concrete

Although countable practical structures and structural parts have been constructed of plastic containing concrete, the worldwide use of plastic fiber in construction without compromising strength requires deeper and deterministic research regarding the utilization of waste material in concrete. Concrete containing plastics have been used in various projects and countries. Sasaki (2006) reported that PET fiber reinforced concrete was successfully used in the Hishikari mine (Gold Mine) located in

Conclusion

  • 1.

    From the literature review, it can be concluded that the direct inclusion of plastic in concrete does not effectively improve the strength of concrete. However, it is useful to treat plastic surfaces with reactive materials, such as iron slag, silica fume, and metakaolin. In this case, the treated surface will react with the matrix and produce additional pozzolanic reactions.

  • 2.

    Workability of concrete containing waste plastic begins to decrease as the amount of waste plastic increases (Batayneh

References (57)

  • M. Frigione

    Recycling of PET bottles as fine aggregate in concrete

    Waste Manag.

    (2010)
  • K. Hannawi et al.

    Physical and mechanical properties of mortar containing PET and PC waste aggregate

    Waste Manag.

    (2010)
  • Z.Z. Ismail et al.

    Use of plastic waste in concrete mixture as aggregate replacement

    Waste Manag.

    (2008)
  • S.C. Kou et al.

    Properties of lightweight aggregate concrete prepared with PVC granules derived from scraped PVC pipes

    Waste Manag.

    (2009)
  • F. Mahdi et al.

    Strength characteristics of polymer mortar and concrete using different compositions of resins derived from post-consumer PET bottles

    Constr. Build. Material

    (2010)
  • T.R. Naik et al.

    Use of post-consumer waste plastic in cement-based composites

    Cem. Concr. Res.

    (1996)
  • T. Ochi et al.

    Development of recycled PET fiber and its application as concrete-reinforcing fiber

    Cem. Concr. Compos.

    (2007)
  • S.N. Othman et al.

    Review on life cycle assessment of integrated solid waste management in some Asian countries

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2013)
  • S. Papong et al.

    Comparative assessment of the environmental profile of PLA and PET drinking water bottles from a life cycle perspective

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2014)
  • E. Rahmani et al.

    On the mechanical properties of concrete containing waste PET particles

    Constr. Build. Mater.

    (2013)
  • K.S. Rebeiz et al.

    Plastic waste management in construction: technological and institutional issues

    Resour. Conserv. Recycl.

    (1995)
  • N. Saikia et al.

    Mechanical properties and abrasion behaviour of concrete containing shredded PET bottle waste as a partial substitution of natural aggregate

    Constr. Build. Material

    (2014)
  • N. Saikia et al.

    Use of plastic waste as aggregate in cement mortar and concrete preparation: a review

    Constr. Build. Material

    (2012)
  • A. Vargas et al.

    Precast slabs using recyclable packaging as flooring support elements

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2014)
  • C. Zhou et al.

    Characteristics and the recovery potential of plastic wastes obtained from landfill mining

    J. Clean. Prod.

    (2014)
  • H.J. Araghi et al.

    An experimental investigation on the erosion resistance of concrete containing various PET particles percentages against sulfuric acid attack

    Constr. Build. Mater.

    (2015)
  • M.S. Al-Salem et al.

    Recycling and recovery routes of plastic solid waste (PSW): a review

    Waste Manag.

    (2009)
  • A.S. Benosman et al.

    Studies on chemical resistance of PET-mortar composites: microstructure and phase composition changes

    Sci. Res.

    (2013)
  • Cited by (285)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text