See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/325923266

Concrete production using recycled waste plastic as aggregate

Article · June 2017

CITATIONS READS

11 5,719

2 authors:

Md. Zakaria Habib Md MASUD Alom

Uttara University Daffodil International University
8 PUBLICATIONS   27 CITATIONS    13 PUBLICATIONS   34 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Md MASUD Alom on 22 June 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17

Concrete production using recycled waste plastic as

aggregate
Md. Zakaria Habib1, Md. Masud Alom1 and Md. Mozammel Hoque2
1
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Uttara University, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
2
Department of Civil Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur 1700, Bangladesh

Received 26 June 2016

Abstract

Abundant quantities of polymeric materials are generated by manufacturing process from different
industries which produce huge amount of municipal solid wastes. Among these broken plastic bottle,
bucket, basket and thin container made by High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) are a large part of these
wastes. These plastic wastes can be utilized under proper condition as an ingredient of concrete. This
study was carried out to determine the compressive strength, tensile splitting strength, flexural strength
and dry density of recycled plastic concrete. In this study, total 90 cylinders and 5 beams were prepared
with stone aggregate and 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% replacement of stone by recycled plastic aggregate at
w/c ratio of 0.50. Tests were performed after 7, 14, and 28 days of curing ages. Test results revealed
that maximum reduction in compressive strength was 44% for 20% replacement of stone by recycled
plastic. Tensile splitting strength and flexural strength of concrete were decreased with the increase of
percentage of recycled plastic. Dry density was reduced by about 8% from reference concrete for 20%
replacement of stone by recycled plastic. It can be concluded that the recycled plastic aggregates may
be used up to 15% replacement of stone aggregates in concrete and may be used in non-load bearing
structures where lightweight materials are recommended.

© 2017 Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Recycled plastic, high density polyethylene, compressive strength, dry density, curing.

1. Introduction
The consumption of plastic is increasing significantly over the world in the recent year which
creates a massive quantity of plastic based waste. In the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area,
about 3,315 tons/day of solid waste had been generated, of which 4.15% was composed of
plastic materials during 2005 (Rahman et al. 2012; Waste Concern Consultant 2006) and
5.46% during 2014 (Haque 2015). The report indicates that plastic waste generation increases
at the rate of 10.43% per year in the amount of plastic waste (Rahman et al., 2012; Waste
Concern Consultant 2006). About 6493 tons/day of solid waste had been generated during
12 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17

1991, 13330 tons/day during 2005 and 27,000 tons/day during 2014 in Bangladesh (Haque
2015). These wastes are almost non-degradable in the natural environment even after a long
period of exposure. So, plastic waste is now a serious environmental threat to the modern way
of living. It is not feasible to use waste plastic for land filling, which require huge land space
area and as well land loses its fertility. It also causes serious problems such as clogging in
drainage system, wastage of resources and environmental pollution. In this consequence, big
attention is being focused worldwide on the environment and safeguarding the natural
resources through recycling of waste plastic materials in the recent years. It may appear to be
valuable property as construction material. Polymer aggregate is significantly lighter than
natural aggregate and therefore its incorporation lowers the densities of the resulting concrete.
This property can be used to develop lightweight concrete (Youcef et al. 2009). Thus,
utilization of waste plastic materials in concrete as aggregates may be considered one of the
most feasible utilization to overcome some safe disposal problems of waste plastic materials.

2. Environmental considerations
The recycling process of waste plastic deals emission of certain amount of greenhouse gases
(CO2, CH4, N2O). However, if this recycled plastic is used in a concrete that would be
permanent for at least 50 years which will produce no greenhouse gases anymore in this
period. In this point of view, use of waste plastic in concrete production can be a sustainable
solution for environmental pollution.

3. Properties of materials
3.1 Cement
The Portland composite cement (fly ash based), type CEM II/B-M (S-V-L), strength class
42.5 N, was used in this study. The properties of cement used in this study are given (Table 1).

Table 1
Properties of cement
Physical properties Test Results
Standard Consistency 31%
Specific Gravity 3.15
Initial Setting Time 210 min
Final Setting Time 330 min
Compressive Strength:
after 3 days of curing 13.92 MPa
after 7 days of curing 19.12 MPa
after 28 days of curing 64.30 MPa

3.2 Fine aggregate

Locally available Sylhet sand was used in this study as fine aggregate. The properties of fine
aggregate are given (Table 2).
Table 2
Properties of fine aggregate
Properties Test results
Fineness Modulus 2.57
Specific Gravity:
Oven-Dry Basis (OD) 2.54
Saturated Surface-Dry Basis (SSD) 2.57
Water Absorption Capacity (%) 2.04
 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17 13

3.3 Coarse aggregate

3.3.1 Stone
Locally available stone aggregate having the maximum size of 19 mm were used in this study
as coarse aggregate. The properties of stone are given in Table 3.

3.3.2 Recycled plastic

Recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) type plastic aggregate (maximum size 19 mm)
was used in this study. The properties of recycled plastic are given in Table 3.

Table 3
Properties of coarse aggregate
Recycled
Common properties Stone
plastic
Fineness Modulus (FM) 7.39 7.08
Bulk specific gravity:
Oven Dry Basis (OD) 2.8 0.86
Saturated Surface Dry Basis(SSD) 2.82 0.87
Absorption capacity (%) 1.08 0.47
Bulk density (kN/m3) 14.0 4.17
Aggregate crushing value (%) 30.40 0.83

3.4 Water
Potable water was used for mixing and curing of specimens.

4. Recycling of waste plastic as coarse aggregate

There are various methods of recycling of waste plastic. In this study mechanical recycling
was applied to prepare recycled plastic aggregate. At first the post-consumer waste plastic
materials such as broken plastic bottle, bucket, basket and thin container made by High
Density Polyethylene (HDPE) had been collected, shredded and washed. Secondly, dried
shredded materials were melted and cooled at room temperature. Then these molten plastic
were again shredded into small pieces within the size range of 12-19 mm. Photo view of
shredded raw plastic materials and recycled plastic aggregate are presented in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Shredded raw plastic materials to Recycled plastic aggregate.

5. Experimental plan
Total 90 cylinder specimens of size 100mm diameter and 200mm height and 5 beam
specimens of size 150mm x 150 mm x 450mm were casted with 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%
volumetric replacement of stone to test the strength properties of recycled plastic concrete.
For the preparation of concrete specimens, cement: fine aggregates (sand): coarse aggregates
14 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17

(stone chips and recycled plastics) ratio of 1:1.8:3 in volume basis and w/c ratio of 0.50 was
used. Specimens were immerged in water intended to cure them for a period of 7, 14 and 28
days.

6. Test results and discussion

6.1 Dry density
In this study, the minimum dry density of concrete was 21.71 kN/m3 (2213 kg/m3 ) for 20%
replacement of stone by recycled plastic. At 28 days curing age, the lowest dry density was
2225 kg/m3 by (Rai et al. 2009) and 2223.7 kg/m3 by (Ismail et al. 2008) which exceeds the
range of the dry density for structural lightweight concrete. By (Rahman et al. 2012), the rate
of reduction of dry density was 0.2% per volume percent of waste polymer. (Al-Manaseer and
Dalal 1997) reported that the bulk density of concrete was reduced by 2.5%, 6% and 13% for
the concrete containing 10%, 30% and 50% plastic aggregates respectively. The values of dry
density with percentages of plastic are tabulated in Table 4.

Table 4
Dry density test results
Percentages of plastic
Test name
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Dry density (kN/m3) 23.20 22.91 22.58 22.13 21.79

6.2 Compressive strength

From the compressive strengths test result after 7 days, 14 days and 28 days of curing
presented in Figure 2, it is clear that the compressive strength of concrete goes on decreasing
with increase in percent of recycled plastic aggregates.

Fig. 2. Variation of compressive strength with various % of plastic.

The compressive strength values were decreased by 11.6%, 21.5%, 34.4% and 44% for 5%,
10%, 15% and 20% replacement of stone by recycled plastic respectively. The rate of
reduction was about 0.61 MPa per every percent of recycled plastic added.

It has been observed by (Rahman et al. 2012) that the inclusion of waste polymer (HDPE) by
10%, 15%, 20% and 25% of stone aggregate were found to decrease at a rate of about 0.6
MPa per volume for every percent of HDPE added. (Al-Manaseer and Dalal 1997) found
34%, 51% and 67% reduction in compressive strength for concrete containing 10%, 30% and
50% plastic aggregates respectively. In other study, (Raghatate 2012) and (Kumar and
Prakash 2006) observed that the compressive strengths of concrete were decreased with the
increase of waste plastics in concrete.
 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17 15

6.3 Tensile splitting strength

Tensile splitting strength of concrete with various percentages of plastic is presented in Figure
3.Test result shows that the tensile splitting strengths were decreased from 6.7% to 30% for
concrete containing 5% to 20% recycled plastic aggregates respectively. (Al-Manaseer and
Dalal 1997) concluded that the tensile splitting strength was decreased by 17% for concrete
containing 10% plastic aggregates. (Choi et al. 2005) studied the influence of polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) bottles and found tensile splitting strength of concrete mixtures decreased
with increase in PET aggregates.

Also, by (Siddique et al. 2008) tensile splitting strength of concrete mixtures decreased with
the increase in PET aggregates but for a particular PET aggregate content (25% and 50%)
tensile splitting strength increased with the reduction in w/c ratio.

Fig. 3. Variation of tensile splitting strength with various % of plastic.

6.4 Flexural strength

Flexural strengths of concrete were decreased from 5.3% to 24.4% for concrete containing
5% to 20% recycled plastic aggregates respectively. Variation of flexural strengths is
presented in Figure 4 from which it is clear that the rate of decreasing of flexural strength
with percentage of plastic is very low. (Rai et al. 2009) demonstrated that the flexural strength
of waste plastic mix concrete is prone to decrease with the increase of the waste plastic
content. Also, (Choi et al. 2005) investigated that for a 50% replacement of sand by recycled
PET, the flexural strength of concrete decreases to only 32% of that of unmodified concrete.

Fig. 4. Variation of flexural strength with various % of plastic.

7. Cost
The estimated cost for producing concrete using waste plastic aggregate (15% replacements)
is shown in Table 5 for one (01) cubic meter concrete production.
16 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17

Table 5
Cost of concrete production using 15% waste plastic aggregate.
Sl No. Materials Quantity Unit cost, BDT Total cost, BDT (USD)
Waste plastic aggregate 3
1 0.12 m 1,61,290.0 19354.0 (241.0)
(Including processing)
3
2 Stone chips 0.66 m 5,650.0 3729.0 (46.6)
3 Coarse sand 0.465 m3 1,415.0 658.0 (8.22)
4 Cement 7.76 bags 450 3,492.0 (43.65)
Total =27,233.0 (340.0)

8. Conclusion
The dry density of concrete was reduced by about 1.5% for each 5% replacement of stone by
recycled plastic aggregates. Therefore, recycled plastic aggregates can be used in concrete to
reduce the total weight of structure. The compressive strength was tended to decrease with
increase in recycled plastic aggregates. The minimum value of compressive strength after 28
days of curing was 15.66 MPa (2270.5 psi) for 20% replacement of stone aggregates which
was lower than the minimum value of 17.0 MPa (2500 psi) for structural application. But
obtained compressive strength value of 18.34 MPa (2656 psi) for 15% replacement of
aggregate was higher than this recommended value. Therefore, up to 15% replacement of
stone aggregate by recycled plastic is applicable for structural application. The tensile
splitting strength was decreased with increase in percentage of plastic.

However, concrete containing plastic aggregates revealed more ductile behavior than
conventional concrete. This ductile behavior can be provided significant advantage in
reducing crack formation and propagation. The flexural strength of concrete was found to
come down with increase in waste plastic aggregates content. The lowest flexural strength at
28 days of curing age for concrete made of 20% waste plastic aggregates was 24.4% lower
than the value of reference concrete. Finally, it can be concluded that the recycled plastic
aggregates may be used up to 15% replacement of stone aggregates in concrete. Production
cost of concrete is too high but its advantage on the environmental issue is significant.

References
Al-Manaseer, A.A. and Dalal, T.R. (1997). “Concrete containing plastic aggregates”. Concrete
International, Vol. 19, No. 8, pp. 47-52.
Choi, Y.W., Moon, D.J., Chung, J.S. and Cho, S.K. (2005). “Effects of waste PET bottles aggregate on
the properties of concrete”. Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 776-781.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.05.014.
Ismail, Z.Z. and Al-Hashmi, E.A. (2008). “Use of waste plastic in concrete mixture as aggregate
replacement”. Waste Management, Vol. 28, No. 11, pp. 2041–2047.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2007.08.023
Kumar, K.B.V. and Prakash, P. (2006). “Use of waste plastic in cement concrete pavement”.
Advanced Materials Research Journal, Vol. 15, pp. 1-21.
Mr. Syed Tahsin Haque (2015). “Environmental challenges of plastics waste in Bangladesh,
http://www.mpma.org.my/Documents/Bangladesh.pdf.”
Rahman, M., Islam, A., Ahmed, M. and Salam, A. (2012).“Recycled polymer materials as
aggregates for concrete and blocks”. Journal of Chemical Engineering, IEB, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp.
53–57.
Rai, B., Rushad, S.T., Bhavesh, K.R. and Duggal, S.K. (2012). “Study of waste plastic mix concrete
with plasticizer”. International Scholarly Research Network, Vol. 2012, pp. 1–5.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2012/469272 2005.
Raghatate, A.M. (2012). “Use of plastic in a concrete to improve its properties”. International Journal
of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 109–111.
Siddique, R., Khatib, J. and Kaur I. (2008). “Use of recycled plastic in concrete : A review”. Waste
Management, Vol. 28, No. 10, pp. 1835–1852.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2007.09.011
 M. Z. Habib et al. / Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 45 (1) (2017) 11-17 17

Waste Concern Consultant (2006).“Report on composition of plastic waste and market assessment of
the plastic recycling sector in Dhaka city”, pp.1-79.
Youcef, G., Bahia, R., Brahim, S. and Rabah, C. (2009).“Use of recycled plastic bag waste in the
concrete”. Journal of International Scientific Publications, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 480–487.

View publication stats