Experimental study on the eco-friendly plastic-sand paver blocks by utilising plastic waste and basalt fibers

Bawar Iftikhar; Sophia C Alih; Mohammadreza Vafaei; Mujahid Ali; Muhammad Faisal Javed; Usama Asif; Muhammad Ismail; Muhammad Umer; Yaser Gamil; Mugahed Amran

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17107

Experimental study on the eco-friendly plastic-sand paver blocks by utilising plastic waste and basalt fibers

Heliyon. 2023 Jun 8;9(6):e17107. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17107. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Bawar Iftikhar^{1

2}, Sophia C Alih³, Mohammadreza Vafaei¹, Mujahid Ali⁴, Muhammad Faisal Javed², Usama Asif², Muhammad Ismail², Muhammad Umer², Yaser Gamil^{5

6}, Mugahed Amran^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru Johor, Malaysia.
² Department of Civil Engineering, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus 22060, Pakistan.
³ Institute of Noise and Vibration, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru Johor, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Transport Systems, Traffic Engineering and Logistics, Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8 Street, Katowice, Poland.
⁵ Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁷ Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Civil Engineering, Amran University, 9677, Amran, Yemen.

Abstract

Plastic waste poses a significant hazard to the environment as a result of its high production rates, which endanger both the environment and its inhabitants. Similarly, another concern is the production of cement, which accounts for roughly 8% of global CO₂ emissions. Thus, recycling plastic waste as a replacement for cementitious materials may be a more effective strategy for waste minimisation and cement elimination. Therefore, in this study, plastic waste (low-density polyethylene) is utilised in the production of plastic sand paver blocks without the use of cement. In addition to this, basalt fibers which is a green industrial material is also added in the production of eco-friendly plastic sand paver blocks to satisfy the standard of ASTM C902-15 of 20 N/mm² for the light traffic. In order to make the paver blocks, the LDPE waste plastic was melted outside in the open air and then combined with sand. Variations were made to the ratio of LDPE to sand, the proportion of basalt fibers, and sand particle size. Paver blocks were evaluated for their compressive strength, water absorption, and at different temperatures. Including 0.5% percent basalt fiber of length 4 mm gives us the best result by enhancing compressive strength by 20.5% and decreasing water absorption by 50.5%. The best results were obtained with a ratio of 30:70 LDPE to sand, while the finest sand provides the greatest compressive strength. Moreover, the temperature effect was also studied from 0 to 60 °C, and the basalt fibers incorporated in plastic paver blocks showed only a 20% decrease in compressive strength at 60 °C. This research has produced eco-friendly paver blocks by removing cement and replacing it with plastic waste, which will benefit the environment, save money, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and be suitable for low-traffic areas, all of which contribute to sustainable development.

Keywords: Basalt fibers; Compressive strength; Eco-friendly; Plastic waste; Plastic-sand paver blocks; Temperature effect; Water absorption.