Reuse of Heritage Waste and Hair Fibre on CBR Value of Fly Ash

Abstract

Heritage provides cultural identity to any place, but the old buildings which completed their life span and got demolished are the major concern for environment. This demolished heritage waste is being cast off in the dumping sites outside the cities. A part of this waste comes to the municipal stream [10]. India's officially recorded recycling capacity of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is meagerly 6,500 tons per day which is just around 1% of the total waste as per the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Another waste material is the fly ash which is produced in abandoned by the burning of coal thermal power plant generates different types of fly ash around the country. In India about 82 power plants produces nearly 250-300 million tons of fly ash at 2019-2020 [12] and the figure is likely to increase. This outstanding increase and alarmingly low percentage of utilization 15% in India [2] poses a potential threat to environment and economy. Its disposal in ecologically suitable manners has now become a global concern. Efforts are being made to increase the use of fly ash in every possible way. In this struggle, scientists and engineers are playing are markable role. Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reported that the significant proportion of construction waste can be recycled, reused and brought back to construction, to substitute naturally sourced material. “This demands a circular economy that can turn Construction & Demolished (C&D) waste into a resource. It can help reducing energy intensity and environmental footprints of buildings and infrastructure [15].

The present experimental study explains how fly ash mixed with heritage waste can be reused having varying percentage of hair fibers on California Bearing Ratio (CBR) values. A number of studies have been carried out on demolished waste, fly ash, treated fly ash incorporated with different fresh material to identify the different physical and mechanical properties. However, no study has been found so far in the literature to investigate the effect of heritage waste on fly ash mixed with different ingredients.