Manufacturing of plastic sand bricks from polypropylene and polyethylene waste plastic

Abstract

Bricks are widely used in construction industries has been undergoing gradual structural changes to cope up with increasing economic and environmental constraint on industries.  Environmental pollution due to accumulation of high percentage of plastic waste can be reduced by utilizing waste plastic in bricks industries. This benefit construction industry by filling the gaps of demands of building materials, and disposal of plastic waste through recycling instead of the process of landfilling, or burning, etc. This article presents the experimental setup for manufacturing of plastic sand bricks from polyethylene & polypropylene, characterization of new bricks and comparison of the same with sand bricks. Six plastic sand brick samples were prepared based on different plastic to sand ratio. Testing was performed to determine compressive strength, efflorescence, water absorption, soundness, and fire resistance test. Results showed that the plastic sand bricks have higher hardness, durability,low water absorption rate and zero effloresce and is a effective source to reduce plastic waste.