Converting discarded plastics and automotive tires into value added composites for building applications

Abstract

This study suggests an economical and environmentally friendly approach of converting used plastics and discarded tires, two of the most common and non-biodegradable wastes, into value added composites suitable for building applications. Disposal of more than 4 billion tires and 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastics every year is a major environmental, social and health concern. Despite substantial efforts, majority of plastics end up in landfills. Similarly, efforts to recycle and/or recover valuable components from used tires have met with limited commercial success. A simple approach to combine waste plastic and crumb rubber from discarded tire and convert them into composites for various applications has been showcased in this study. Crumb rubber (10–30 %) were added into plastic and compression molded into composites. The composites obtained had tensile strength between 1.8 and 4.8 MPa flexural strength between 6.1 and 14.5 MPa. Considerably high increase of about 60 % was observed for compression and impact resistance with the addition of 20 % rubber. Addition of crumbs also improved the acoustic absorption and thermal resistance. Rubber crumb reinforced waste plastic composites have properties suitable for insulation, pavement blocks and other building applications.

Keywords

• Waste plastic
• Crumb rubber
• Composite
• Impact resistance