Soil Stabilization Using Waste Plastic Materials

Abstract

Expansive clay soils are the types of soils whose volume changes with the change in water content. They have a behavior of swelling and shrinking that is a serious hazard to structures built over them. Expansive soils are abundantly existing soil types in Ethiopia, particularly Addis Ababa. This paper shows the outcomes of an attempt to reinforce and stabilize expansive clay soil with plastic bottle strips. The plastic strips were prepared and added at three different mixing ratios (0.5%, 1% and 2%) by weight and in three different aspect ratios (5 mm × 7.5 mm, 10 mm × 15 mm, 15 mm × 20 mm). The experimental results showed that there was a significant improvement in shear strength parameters. The swelling and desiccation cracking behavior of the soil were also expressively reduced. There was a substantial reduction in the optimum moisture content and slight increment in maximum dry density. The optimum plastic size (aspect ratio) and plastic content that results in optimum result can be selected based on the importance of the selection parameter for a specified engineering work. Stabilizing expansive clay soils with waste plastic bottles simultaneously solves the challenges of improper plastic waste recycling that is currently a teething problem in most developing countries. The results obtained from this study favorably suggest that inclusion of this material in expansive soils would be effective for ground improvement in geotechnical engineering.

Reusing COVID-19 disposable nitrile gloves to improve the mechanical properties of expansive clay subgrade: An innovative medical waste solution

“…Combining shredded gloves, having a rough surface, and expansive clay could increase the stretching resistance between the particles. A similar trend was observed in previous studies on the strength properties of clay soils reinforced with plastic ( Kassa et al, 2020 ) and rubber fibres ( Yadav and Tiwari, 2017 ). However, as the SNG content was increased to 2%, the UCS reduced to 297.97 kPa, demonstrating that there is a threshold value of SNG content beyond which the UCS value decreased.…”

“…The reduction in MDD can be related to the decrease in density of the mixture due to the relatively low density of shredded gloves and the decrease in compaction efficiency resulting from the elastic response of SNG. Kassa et al (2020) and Ali et al (2020) observed a similar trend by adding PET strips and PP fibres to the clayey soils, respectively.…”

Enhancing the Engineering Properties of Subgrade Materials Using Processed Waste: A Review

“…Plastic waste has been successfully used in various studies as an additive to stabilise expansive road subgrade material. CBR value of 3.04 was achieved for soil stabilised with up to 2% plastic strip and UCS values of up to 316.4 kN were achieved [103]. Synthetic fibres such as polypropylene have been reportedly used in various studies as an additive to stabilise expansive road subgrade material.…”

A Review of the Status of Scientific Research and Practical Techniques Related to Using Cement Kiln Dust to Stabilize Weak Soils

“…This soil suffers from the continuous swelling and contraction, and for this period, the engineering structures built upon it are damaged, as are road structures. [73], [74]. CKD can be added into weak soils to develop their inherent engineering properties, where CKD increase the subgrade soil texture, the shear strength and decrease the swell features [49].…”