A

Report on
“UTILIZATION OF WASTE PLASTIC IN CONCRETE”
In
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Under the Supervision of
DEVESH JAYASWAL
(Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering)
GROUP MEMBERS:

[Link]. Name Roll No.

1 Gaurav Verma 1700639
2 Shruti Gautam 1700672
3 Aman Singhal 1700626
4 Kartikey Gautam 1700672
5 Sanket Gautam 1700666
6 Aditya kumarMahatha 1700622
7 Priyanshu Gautam 1700806

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, AGRA

UTTAR PRADESH (INDIA)
January 2021

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 DISSERTATION APPROVAL SHEET

A
DISSERTATION ENTITLED “UTILIZATION OF WASTE
PLASTIC IN CONCRETE”

SUBMITTED BY
[Link]. Name Roll No.
1 Gaurav Verma 1700639
2 Shruti Gautam 1700672
3 Aman Singhal 1700626
4 Kartikey Gautam 1700645
5 Sanket Gautam 1700666
6 Aditya kumarMahatha 1700622
7 Priyanshu Gautam 1700806

EXAMINED AND FOUND………………FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE.

------------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT EXTERNAL EXAMINER INTERNALEXAMINER
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, AGRA
UTTAR PRADESH (INDIA)

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 CERTIFICATE
The undersigned certify that the following students:

[Link]. Name Roll No.

1 Gaurav Verma 1700639
2 Shruti Gautam 1700672
3 Aman Singhal 1700626
4 Kartikey Gautam 1700645
5 Sanket Gautam 1700666
6 Aditya kumarMahatha 1700622
7 Priyanshu Gautam 1700806

are registered for the [Link] program in the Department of Civil Engineering,
Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra under my supervision.
I hereby recommend that the Dissertation entitled, “UTILIZATION OF
WASTE PLASTIC IN CONCRETE”be accepted as the partial fulfillment of
the requirements for evaluation and award of the [Link] Degree.

Place: Agra. Mr. Devesh Jaysawal

Date: Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Dayalbagh Educational Institute
U.P (INDIA)

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 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT

We students (Roll No.’s :1700639, 1700672, 1700626, 1700645, 1700666,

1700622, 1700806) declare that this is our original work and that it has not been
presented and will not be presented to any other University/ institute for a
similar or any other Degree award.

Place: Agra. Signature: ……………

Date: …………. Name Roll No.
Gaurav Verma 1700639
Shruti Gautam 1700672
Aman Singhal 1700626
Kartikey Gautam 1700645
Sanket Gautam 1700666
Aditya kumarMahatha 1700622
Priyanshu Gautam 1700806

This dissertation is a copyright material protected under the Berne convention, the copyright
of 1999 and other International and National enactments , in that behalf , or Intellectual
property. it may not be reproduced by any means , in full or part , excepts for short extracts in
fair dealing , for research and private study , critical scholarly review or discourser with an
acknowledgement , without permission of the department on both author and IEC College
Gr. Noida.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work presented in this thesis is under the guidance of Mr. Devesh
Jaysawal, Assistant Professor of Department of Civil Engineering. We express
our profound gratitude to his invaluable guidance, support, continuous
inspiration, suggestion and discussions at various stages of our work.
And last but not the least, we feel deeply obliged to our parents, not only for
the time they have given us for further study but also for their motivation, moral
supports and constant inspiration.

Name Roll No.

Place: Agra. Gaurav Verma 1700639
Date: …………………. Shruti Gautam 1700672
Aman Singhal 1700626
Kartikey Gautam 1700645
Sanket Gautam 1700666
Aditya kumarMahatha 1700622
Priyanshu Gautam 1700806

5
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Plastics currently play a massive role in our daily lives. Plastics are utilized in
virtually all areas of manufacturing. Tons and tons of plastic products are molded on a
daily basis, even as the waste continues to build up. Due to the fact that most plastics
are not biodegradable, an enormous sum of plastic waste continues to build up
worldwide, with industrialized nations contributing the largest amount of plastic
waste. More specifically, the majority of plastic waste comes from packaging and
containers. The amount of land required for landfills is of increasing concern
everywhere in the world. From the 1950 up to 2018, an estimated 6.3 billion tons of
plastic has been produced worldwide, of which an estimated 9% has been recycled
and another 12% has been incinerated. India alone, produces more than 5 million tons
of plastic are consumed each year, of which only an estimated one-quarter is recycled,
with the remainder going to landfills. This large amount of plastic waste inevitably
enters the environment, with studies suggesting that the bodies of 90% of seabirds
contain plastic debris.
Khilesh (2014) studied the impact of use of plastic waste and steel fiber addition on
the properties of concrete. The fine aggregate was replaced by plastic waste at 0.2%,
0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% by weight of cement and 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% 0.4% and 0.5%
steel fibers were incorporated in concrete mixes. They observed that, replacement of
fine aggregate by plastic waste in different percentages showed an increase in
compressive strength whereas marginal reduction in slump as compared to that of
control mix. Subramani and Pugal (2015) reported that, the use of plastic waste as a
replacement for conventional coarse aggregate improves the physical and mechanical
properties of concrete mixes. It was reported that, the compressive strength, flexural
strength and split tensile strength of concrete was increased by 8%, 5% and 3% as
compared to that of control concrete at 15% replacement level. As the percentage of
replacement increased beyond 15% all the properties of concrete showed downward
trend. This fact was due to excess presence of water in the concrete mix because
plastic waste has very low water absorption as compared to that of conventional
coarse aggregate. Harini and Ramana (2015) studied the influence of replacement of

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 plastic waste and silica fume as fine aggregate and cement respectively in concrete
mixes. The plastic waste was replaced in the percentage 5%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 15%, 20%
by volume and silica fume 5%, 10%, 15% by weight in concrete. They reported that,
the degree of workability was high in all the replacement levels. It was also stated
that, in all the replacement levels of plastic waste as fine aggregate showed marginal
reduction approximately 10% in compressive strength as compared to that of control
mix. In case of silica fume replacement the compressive strength of concrete mixes
increased by 13%, 20% and 23% at 5%, 10% and 15% respectively. Tensile strength
of concrete reduced marginally at 8% to 20% replacement and increased marginally at
5% and 6% replacement levels as compared to that of control mix. One of the main
goals of sustainable solid waste management is to maximize the ability of its
recycling and reusing. The modern lifestyle, alongside the advancement of technology
has led to an increase in the amount and type of waste being generated, leading to a
waste disposal crisis.
1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW
We have gone through various journals, research papers and others from which we
adopted useful content for our research as
Concrete: Concrete is the most widely used man-made construction material and it is
obtained by mixing cement, water and aggregates (and sometimes admixtures) in
required proportions. The mixture when placed in forms and allowed to cure becomes
hard like stone. The hardening is caused by chemical action between water and the
cement for a given time to make it hardened. The strength, durability and other
characteristics of concrete depend upon the properties of its ingredients, on the
proportions of mix, the method of compaction and other controls during placing,
compaction and curing. ([Link] 2016). The advances in concrete
technology have paved the way to make the best use of locally available materials by
judicious mix proportioning, to produce concrete satisfying performance requirements.
The main ingredients of concrete are cement, fine aggregate (sand) and coarse
aggregate (gravel or crushed rock). ([Link] 2016).
1.2.1 Advantages of concrete:
• Concrete is economical in the long run as compared to other engineering
materials. Except cement, it can be made from locally available coarse and fine
aggregates.

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 • Concrete possesses a high compressive strength, and the corrosive and
weathering effects are minimal. When properly prepared its strength is equal to
that of a hard natural stone.
• The green concrete can be easily handled and moulded into any shape or size
according to specifications. The form work can be reused a number of times of
similar jobs resulting in economy.
• It is strong in compression and has unlimited structural applications in
combination with steel reinforcement. The concrete and steel have approximately
equal coefficients of thermal expansion.
• The concrete is extensively used in the construction of foundations, walls, roads,
airfields, buildings, water retaining structures, docks / harbours, dams, bridges,
bunkers and silos, etc.
• Concrete can even be sprayed on and filled into fine cracks for repairs by the
guniting process.
• The concrete can be pumped and hence it can be laid in the difficult positions
also.
• It is durable and fire resistant and requires very little maintenance.
1.2.2 Disadvantages of concrete:
• Concrete has low tensile strength and hence cracks easily. Therefore, concrete is
to be reinforced with steel bars or meshes.
• Fresh concrete shrinks on drying and hardened concrete expands on wetting.
Provision for contraction joints has to be made to avoid the development of cracks
due to drying shrinkage and moisture movement.
Concrete expands and contracts with the changes in temperature. Hence expansion
joints have to be provided to avoid the formation of cracks due to thermal
movement.
• Concrete under sustained loading undergoes creep resulting in the reduction of
pre-stress in the prestressed concrete construction.
• Concrete is not entirely impervious to moisture and contains soluble salts which
may cause efflorescence.
• Concrete is liable to disintegrate by alkali and sulphate attack.
• The lack of ductility inherent in concrete as a material is disadvantageous with respect
to earthquake resistant design.

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 [Link]: Admixtures are the materials other than the basic ingredients of
concrete, cement, water, and aggregates. The use of admixture should offer an improvement
not economically attainable by adjusting the proportions of cement and aggregates, and
should not adversely affect any property of the concrete. Admixtures are no substitute for
good concreting practice. An admixture should be employed only after an appropriate
evaluation of its effects on the particular concrete under the conditions in which the concrete
is intended to be used. The admixtures ranging from addition of chemicals to waste materials
have been used to modify certain properties of concrete. The properties commonly modified
are rate of hydration or setting time, workability, dispersion and air-entrainment. The
admixture is generally added in a relatively small quantity. ([Link] 2016).
[Link] of admixtures: The general function of admixtures in concretes are to
1. Increase the strength and improve workability of concrete 2. Increase the durability of
concrete, i.e. its resistance to special conditions of exposure, like repeated freezing and
thawing cycles 3. Reduce the segregation in grout mixtures.
4. Increase bond of concrete to steel reinforcement and the bond between old and new
concrete. 5. Inhibit the corrosion of concrete and increase the resistance to chemical attack 6.
Produce coloured concrete or mortar for coloured surfaces 7. Produce concrete of fungicidal,
germicidal and insecticidal properties,
2.3 Special concrete
Cement concrete faced several drawbacks, in terms of low tensile / compressive strength,
impact toughness, permeability to liquids and consequent corrosion of reinforcement,
adhesion, thermal insulation, susceptibility to chemical attack, freeze-thaw resistances and
low durability. Research and modifications has been in process to conquer the challenges of
cement concrete for decades. New construction technology and availability of local materials
has significantly solved some of the challenges recently for improving the performance of
concretes and more economical value in construction.

2.3.1 Types of special concrete

1. Lightweight concrete (LWC) 2. Ultralightweight concrete [Link] Concrete [Link]
material based concrete 5. Shotcrete or guniting 6. Ferrocement 7. Fibre reinforced concrete
8. Polymer concrete composites (PCCs) 9. Sulphur concrete and Sulphurinfiltrated concrete
10. Jet (Ultra-rapid hardening) cement concrete

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2.3.2 Use of lightweight concrete
• Lightweight concrete is used in making concrete cubes, cement blocks, Earthquake resistant
walling materials and roofing material among others.
• Lightweight concrete is used where little strength is required e.g. roof screeds, walling
materials in storey buildings, office partitioning.
• Lightweight concrete also has termite proof capability and resistant towards freezing issues
(weather proof material).
• Lightweight concrete is low on weight and has positive impact on weight management of
building material and craning work, while normal concrete is very dense.
• Lightweight concrete is used as sound absorption / acoustical insulation and the low density
LWC has high acoustical insulation capability.
• The Lightweight concrete is Environmentally friendly to humans and the surrounding.
• Lightweight concrete is cost-efficient, available / affordable and the application of waste
plastics in concrete reduced the cost of construction.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLASTICS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

Thermoset – [Link]: Mattresses, Cushions, Insulation. 2. Epoxies: Adhesive glues,

Coating for electrical devices, Helicopter and jet engine blades. 3. Phenol Formaldehyde:
plywood, Electrical appliances, Electrical circuit boards and switches.

Thermoplastics – 1. Packaging, Electrical insulation, Milk and Water bottles, Packaging film,
House Wrap, Agricultural film. 2. Polypropylene: Carpet fibers, Automotive bumpers,
Microwave containers, External prostheses. 3. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC): Floor and wall
covering, Automobile instruments.

Fig 5. (A)Polyethene waste before cutting and grinding after cutting

(B) Grinding polythene Waste

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1.3 OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives are to:

• Identify an affordable and suitable waste material for the production of lightweight
concrete.
• Compare the strength and density of lightweight concrete with normal concrete.
• Examine the uses and application of lightweight concrete in constructions

1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Solid waste management is the most pressing environmental challenge faced by urban and
rural areas of Nigeria. Nigeria, with population exceeding 170 million, is one of the largest
producers of solid waste in Africa. (Bioenergy consult 2016). There is rapid growth in the
Nigerian population and the increase in population comes with increase in waste generation.
Nigeria generates around 32 million tons of solid waste annually, out of which only 20-30%
is collected (Bioenergy consult 2016). The waste are disposed in open spaces, road sides and
within residential buildings. Sorting plastic waste and using it in construction will reduce
waste accumulation to a great extent. There are construction stages that does not require
normal concrete or heavy load and alternatively lightweight can be used on the building or
structure. The continues rise in solid plastics waste and cost of building materials over the
years in Nigeria and the world at large, forced researchers to look for ways of addressing the
problem. Plastics waste which is one of the non-bio-gradable materials as stated earlier
causes a lot of environmental pollution, and there is the need to find solution to such menace.
It was reported that recycling of waste materials can be economical and as a consequence
reduces pollution and contamination (Dhir and Csetenyi, 2003). The problem with cement
concrete are in terms of low tensile strength, permeability to liquids, corrosion of
reinforcement, prone to biological or chemical attack, poor freeze/thaw resistances. Research
and Development has a new dimension in the use of affordable local building materials in
addressing the concrete drawbacks, such as the use of waste plastics and other admixtures for
improving the performance of concretes. Research has been carried out in advanced
countries, on the use of waste plastic materials in concrete, but only few were reported in
Nigeria. The study also evaluates differences in compressive strength and density based on
variable addition of granulated waste plastic in the cement based composite respectively.

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1.5 EXPECTED OUTCOME

The term “plastic” includes materials composed of various elements such as carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine and sulfur. Plastics typically have high molecular
weight, meaning can have thousands of atoms bound together. Most plastics are based on the
carbon atom. Silicones, which are based on silicon atom, are an exception. The carbon atom
can link to other atoms with up to four chemical bonds. When all of the bonds are to other
carbon atoms, diamonds or graphite or carbon black may result. For plastics the carbon atoms
are also connected to hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine or sulfur. When the connections
of atoms result in long chains, like pearls on a string of pearls, the polymer is called a
thermoplastic. About 92% of plastics are thermoplastics. Some examples of material
properties in plastic product applications are: Hot-filled packaging used for products such as
ketchup. Chemical-resistant package are used for products such as bleach.

The use of plastic waste in concrete has been broadly investigated in recent years. This
review paper has presented aspects on plastic waste and its usage in concrete, which would be
summarized and concluded as:

According to prior test studies, it refers that plastic waste can be utilized in concrete up to
certain limit without much effecting the properties of concrete. 2. Plastic waste has control on
the workability property of concrete. Slump value and the compaction factor decreased with
the increase in amount of plastic waste in concrete. 3. Different studies demonstrates that
strength of concrete containing plastic waste were comparable to that of reference concrete
up to certain limits.

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References
[1 ]UNEP, Converting waste plastics into a resource, “United Nations Environment Program
Industry and Economics”, Osaka/Shi, (2009).

[2] A. Hassani, H. Ganjidoust, A. Maghanaki. “Use of plastic waste (poly-ethylene

terephthalate) in asphalt concrete mixture as aggregate replacement”. Waste Management &
Research, Vol. 23, (2005), pp:322–327.

[3] O.Y. Marzouk, R.M. Dheilly and M. Queneudec. “Valorization of post-consumer waste
plastic in cementitious concrete composites”. Waste Management, Vol. 27 No. 2, (2007), pp:
310–318.

[4] Z.Z. Ismail and E.A. AL-Hashmi. “Use of waste plastic in concrete mixture as aggregate
replacement”. Waste Management, Vol. 28 No. 11, (2008), pp: 2041–2047.

[5] Y. Ghernouti, B. Rabehi, B. Safi and R. Chaid. “Use of recycled plastic bag waste in the
concrete”, Journal of International Scientific Publications, Vol. 8, (2009), pp: 480–487.

[6] S.C. Kou, G. Lee, C.S. Poon and W.L Lai. “Properties of lightweight aggregate concrete
prepared with PVC granules derived from scraped PVC pipes”. Waste Management, Vol. 29
No. 2, (2009), pp: 621-628.

[7] Z.Z. Ismail and E.A. AL-Hashmi. “Validation of using mixed iron and plastic wastes in
concrete”. In Second International Conference on Sustainable Construction Materials and
Technologies. Ancona (2010), pp. 393-403.

[8] M. RaghatateAtul. “Use of plastic in a concrete to improve its properties”. International

journal of advanced engineering research and studies, Vol. 1 No. 3, (2012), pp: 109-111.

[9] P. Mathew, S. Varghese, T. Paul and E. Varghesh. “Recycled plastics as coarse aggregate
for structural concrete”. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering
and Technology, Vol. 2 No. 3, (2013), pp: 687-690.

[10] S. Khilesh. “Study of Strength Property of Concrete Using Waste Plastics and Steel
Fiber”. International Journal of Engineering And Science, Vol. 3 No. 5, (2014), pp: 9–11.

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[11] B. Harini and K.V. Ramana. “Use of Recycled Plastic Waste as Partial Replacement for
Fine Aggregate in Concrete”. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,
Engineering and Technology, Vol. 4 No.9, (2015), pp: 8596–8603.

[12] M.M. Ahmed and S.S Raju. “Use of Waste Plastic in the Production of Light Weight
Concrete”. International Journal & Magazine of Engineering, Technology, Management and
Research, Vol. 2 No.2, (2015), pp: 365– 369.

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