Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Made from Plastic Straw for Concrete Confinement: An Alternative Method of Managing Plastic Waste from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Plastic pollution is one of the most significant environmental issues worldwide.During Covid-19 pandemic, single-use plastic containers have been overused due to a lock-down policy.This led to remarkable increase in municipal plastic wastes.An alternative method to manipulate plastic wastes is to recycle them as construction and building materials.The research introduces an idea of using plastic straw to produce fibrereinforced polymer composite as a strengthening material to confine concrete.The plastic straw fibrereinforced polymer composite coupons were tested to obtain their tensile strength, ultimate strain, and elastic modulus.A series of compression tests were conducted on plastic straw fibre-reinforced polymer composite confined concrete to investigate the improved strength and ductility performance.The results show that the mechanical properties of plastic straw fibre-reinforced polymer composite are acceptable for concrete strengthening purpose.More importantly, use of plastic straw fibre-reinforced polymer composite is rewarded by its environmental solution for reduction of plastic wastes in household.