Sustainable production of Low-Shrinkage fired clay bricks by utilizing waste plastic dust

Abstract

Plastic waste is an immense challenge for waste management and sustainable development because it has been detrimental to aquatic and terrestrial life. The easiest and most common method to eliminate huge volumes of this waste is burning, which is harmful to environment. Plastic waste in bricks can reduce waste accumulation problems and partially replace natural resources (clay) with waste. This study mainly focused on utilizing waste plastic dust in fired clay bricks and investigating its effect on their physical and mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, water absorption, and density conforming to ASTMC67. The brick specimens were prepared for this purpose with varying percentages of plastic dust (0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%, and 15%) by mass. By increasing the plastic dust percentage, the compressive strength was reduced, and water absorption increased. However, both remained within an acceptable range and passed the criteria of most building standards. The bricks produced were lightweight and exhibited considerably low shrinkage, leading to volume stability. The optimum percentage of plastic was found to be 7.5%, providing better results. It is corroborated that waste plastic dust can be utilized to manufacture relatively lightweight fired clay bricks with higher volume stability. This method can be adopted in areas where plastic is burnt in the open air to resolve plastic waste accumulation issues.