The abundance of waste plastic is a major issue for the sustainability of the environment as plastic pollutes rivers, land, and oceans. However, the versatile behavior of plastic (it is lightweight, flexible, strong, moisture-resistant, and cheap) can make it a replacement for or alternative to many existing composite materials like concrete. Over the past few decades, many researchers have used waste plastic as a replacement for aggregates in concrete. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the engineering properties of waste recycled plastic. It is divided into three sections, along with an introduction and conclusion. The influence of recycled waste plastics on the fresh properties of concrete is discussed first, followed by its influence on the mechanical and durability properties of concrete. Current experimental results have shown that the mechanical and durability properties of concrete are altered due to the inclusion of plastic. However, such concrete still fulfills the requirements of many engineering applications. This review also advocates further study of possible pre-treatment of waste plastic properties for the modification of its surface, shape, and size in order to improve the quality of the composite product and make its use more widespread.
Disposal of consumer waste is a major challenge in urban areas around the world. In the field of building materials, it has long been recognized that many types of wastes can be used instead of raw materials. In addition, production of binders such as Portland cement is a CO2 intensive process. However, for widespread use of wastes in construction, it is important that the properties of resulting building materials are satisfactory. For concrete, the most important are the fresh, hardened and durability properties. A promising waste material that can be utilized to create sustainable concrete composites is waste recycled glass. In this paper, literature dealing with use of waste recycled glass as partial replacement of either cement or aggregate in concrete is systematically reviewed. The focus of this review is the influence of recycled waste glass on the engineering properties of concrete. Main advantages and drawbacks of using recycled waste glass are discussed. The aim of this review is to identify major research needs in the field that will help bring this class of materials closer to worldwide practical use. Given that concrete is the most used man-made material in the world, such development would significantly reduce the need for landfilling of waste recycled glass that is unsuitable for reuse in glass production.
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