Speaker
Description
Plastic waste currently represents a very important environmental issue, with plastic global production being over 300 Mt and the EU recycled fraction under 40%. The non-recycled plastic undergoes energy recovery in the best case, but in the worst is dispersed or landfilled.
Plastic recycling into mortar/concrete is one of the possible solutions for immobilizing plastic for long times. The plastic lowers the density of the mortar/concrete and increases its thermal and acoustic insulation capability, but causes a reduction in mechanical performance.
Here we present three cases of plastic waste recycled into mortar: PVC from cables, where energy recovery is impossible due to the high chlorine content; mixed plastics from waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), that comprise several different plastic types; rubber from end-of-life tyres, half of which are still sent to energy recovery.
In all mortars the plastic wastes were partially substituted to the sand, and physical and mechanical testing was carried out. The main conclusions are:
- density of mortar decreases with increasing plastic content, while flexural and compressive strength decrease significantly;
- the adhesion between plastic and cement is scarce, and a weak interface is formed. Thus, cracks can form between plastic and cement, and plastic may behave almost as porosity, from the mechanical point of view;
- countermeasures can be taken to limit the mechanical performance loss. Physical and chemical treatments can be applied, or fibers can be added in small quantity, to counterbalance the strength reduction;
- plastic composition and homogeneity has a limited influence on strength;
- mechanical properties are still sufficient for non-structural applications.
| Speaker Country | Italy |
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