A Sustainable Approach to Turn Plastic Waste into Useful Construction Blocks

Abstract

The world economy is surging and newer technologies are evolving with the time. The construction sector is about to undergo a huge transformational change. The people of the world are looking forward to residing in houses made of sustainable materials. The people are concerned about increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The cement production is accompanied by huge greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, waste plastics are becoming a nightmare for the people residing in developed and underdeveloped countries, as the waste management becomes difficult in those places. This research discusses a potential solution to address the above-stated issues of concern, i.e., plastic waste into construction blocks with lower cost and rapid construction phases. A study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene), (major sources of waste and least recycled plastic) with waste materials like bottom ash, copper slag, and ceramic in different proportions to create blocks. This study compares the mechanical properties of different mix proportions of raw materials to find an optimum composition. This paper also investigates the pre-eminence of the newly developed composite block over the conventional brick in terms of economic viability, environmental sustainability, and construction superiority. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.