The Utilization of Plastic Waste in the Matched Mixture of Concrete

Brick

Nursyamsi

*, Ivan Indrawan

, M. S. Surbakti

, and Octa Glory

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. Universitas Sumatera Utara, Padang Bulan, Medan 20155,

Indonesia

Keywords: Plastic, HDPE, PP, Concrete brick.

Abstract: Plastic is widely used in daily life. Approximately 80% of garbage consists of plastic waste. Whereas plastic

is a type of waste that is dangerous and difficult to be recycled therefore harmful to the environment. One of

the solutions is the reuse of plastic waste. In this research, HDPE and PP plastic waste are chopped and then

used as the substitute material as much as 10% of the weight of the sand on the matched mixture of concrete

brick. The sample of this research is a brick with size of 40x20x10 cm and cube with size of 15x15x15 cm

for each type of plastic. The addition of admixture materials is SikaPaver HC-1ID and additive material

which is Silica Fume. In determining the classification of the quality of the specimens, this study uses based

on SNI 03-0349-1989 as a reference. Judging from the visual appearance, the content weight and

absorption, the two types of specimens are included in the quality I bricks while the compressive strength

test against the sample of bricks both HDPE and PP type results in quality II bricks at age 28 days old.

1 INTRODUCTION

Plastic has become a dangerous waste and difficult

to recycle. It takes a long time for the plastic to be

decomposed completely. At the time of the

decomposition process, plastic waste will

contaminate the soil, air, and water. If plastics are

buried in the soil, plastics will damage soil fertility

and block the water flow in the soil, whereas if

plastic waste is burned, toxic fumes resulting from

burning will be harmful to living things. When

plastics are discharged into the waters, the chemicals

present in plastics will damage marine life (Saikia

and Brito, 2012).

Reuse is the best way to solve plastic waste

problems (Yang, 2015). Various efforts in tackling

plastic waste can be done such as the reuse of waste

in the field of civil engineering industry. The

application of energy conscious construction

materials, can be applied to one example, namely by

using plastic waste as one of the substitutes of

aggregate in the manufacture of lightweight concrete

or brick. Plastics that have light physical properties

may serve as one of the conventional aggregate

substitutes in reducing the weight unit of the

concrete (Akçaözog˘lu, 2009). In addition to

reducing the use of natural resources, reuse of waste

can safely reduce waste (Choi, 2009).

There has been considerable researches on the

use of recycled plastic in concrete from 1994 to

2015 (Gu and Ozbakkaloglu, 2016). Some of them

are: Choi, et al., 2009, undertook the development of

lightweight aggregate concrete using fine aggregate

made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle

waste. In 2010Chidiac and Mihaljevic conducted a

research that is by mixing waste in dry cast concrete

block. Rahim, et al. in 2013 substituted the HDPE

fragments which passed sieve no. 4.75-20 mm as

coarse aggregate in a concrete mixture. Soebandono,

et al., 2013, in his research on the strength of

compressive strength and tensile strength of concrete

using HDPE plastic waste as a c aggregate

substitution. (Yang, 2015) modified PET plastic

waste in variations of 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% of

sand substitution in the manufacture of Self

Compacting Lightweight Concrete (SCLC).

This research will discuss HDPE and PP plastic

waste on concrete brick. HDPE plastic is a type of

plastic used to manufacture bottles of milk,

detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, moisturizing

bottles, oil bottles, toys, and some plastic bags.

HDPE plastic is very hard and not easily damaged of

the heat of the sun, high heat, or cold temperatures.

PP plastic has properties that are similar to HDPE

plastic which are strong, lightweight, and heat

resistant. PP appears as a wrapper on dry and fresh

milk products. PP is also used as buckets, margarine

168

Nursyamsi, ., Indrawan, I., Surbakti, M. and Glory, O.

The Utilization of Plastic Waste in the Matched Mixture of Concrete Brick.

DOI: 10.5220/0010073101680174

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

168-174

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

boxes and yogurt, straws, straps, adhesive tapes, and

paint plastic cans.

Nursyamsi, et al., 2017, and Kevin, 2017 studies

have examined the effect of adding HDPE and PP

plastic waste as a substitute of 10% of the weight of

sand and produced concrete bricks or as known as

batako, with class III quality. In the study of the

addition of HDPE to construction materials have

also been done by Rahim et al., (2013) and

concluded that the addition of 10% HDPE variation

has better compressive strength compared with other

variations of addition.

This study adds admixture in the form of

SikaPaver HC-1 ID and additive in the form of

Silicafume. It is expected that the brick with 10%

substitution of HDPE and brickwork with

substitution of 10% PP produced can achieve higher

quality compared to previous research.

Figure 1 : HDPE plastic chopping.

Figure 2 : PP plastic chopping.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Concrete Block

According to SNI 03-0349-1989, Conblock

(concrete block; Concrete brick or as known as

batako is a building component made from a mixture

of Portland cement or pozolan, sand, water and / or

other additives, molded in such a way as to qualify

and can be used as material for brickworks.

Table 1 : Physical requirements of concrete bricks.

Physical

Requirements

Unit

Solid concrete

brick quality level

Hollow concrete

brick quality level

I II III V I II III IV

Minimum

average of

gross

compressive

strength.

Kg/cm

100 70 40 25 70 50 35 20

Minimum

gross

compressive

strength for

each

ecimens.

Kg/cm

90 65 35 21 65 45 30 17

Maximum

average of

water

absor

tion

% 25 35 - - 25 35 - -

2.2 Portland Cement

The main function of cement is to bind aggregate

granules so that it will form a dense composition as

the cement fills the air cavities among the aggregate

grains

2.3 Sand

Sand is a natural material in the form of small grains

in addition to mud or soil. Sand grains are generally

sized between 0.0625 to 2 millimeters. Good sand is

the sand that comes from rivers and does not contain

more than 5% clay soil as it can lead to cracks, and

also must meet the specifications that are defined by

ASTM

2.4 Water

One of the materials needed in the formation of

bricks is water. Water serves to trigger the cement's

chemical processes so that it binds and hardens,

moistens aggregates and to facilitate its execution.

2.5 HDPE and PP

High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is one type of

polyehtylene. HDPE is characterized by a density

exceeding or equal to 0.941 g/cm

. In addition to the

type of HDPE there is a polypropylene (PP) polymer

The Utilization of Plastic Waste in the Matched Mixture of Concrete Brick

169

type, also called polypropene, which is a crystalline

polymer produced from the propylene gas of

polymerization process. The specific gravity of

polypropylene is low within the range of 0.90 - 0.91

gram/cm³. Polypropylene is included in the lightest

groups among other polymeric materials.

2.6 Admixture (SikaPaver HC-1 ID)

SikaPaver HC-1 ID is a highly efficient and high

performing compact auxiliary (admixture) material

designed especially for concrete with cement and

low slump (semi-dry). This admixture is product of

PT. Sika.

2.7 Additive (Silicafume)

According to the "Specification for Silica Fume for

Use in Hydraulic Cement Concrete and Mortar"

standard (ASTM.C.1240,1995:637-642), Silica

Fume is a fine pozzolan material, wherein the silica

composition is more of a blast furnace or production

residue silicon or silicon iron alloy (known as a

combination of micro silica and Silica Fume).

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The HDPE and PP plastic waste that has been

chopped and cleaned was substituted for the weight

of sand by 10% for each type of brick. Both types of

brick mixture use a ratio of 1pc: 6ps with water ratio

0.32, and 0.4% SikaPaver HC-1ID and 10%

SilicaFume of total weight of cement. After 28 days,

visual view tests, content weight, absorption, and

compressive strength of brick samples were

performed.

3.1 Content Weight, Absorption and

Compressive Strength Formula

In order to calculate the content weight of one test

object, below equation is used:

Content Weight (CW) =





(3.1)

Description :

CW= Content Weight (kg/m

)

W = Test Object Weight (kg)

V = Test Object Volume (m

)

For measurement of water absorption of brick,

referring to SNI 03-0349-1989 standard, it can be

calculated by the following equation:

𝑊𝑎 =





𝑥100% (3.2)

Description :

Wa = Water Absorption (%)

Mk = Dry object mass (gr)

Mj = Object mass in saturated condition (gr)

For measurement of compressive strength of brick, it

refers to SNI 03-0349-1989 standard and is

calculated by the following equation:

𝑃 =





(3.3)

Description

P = Compressive Strength (kg/cm

)

Fmaks = Maximum Force (kg)

A = Surface area of the test object (cm

)

Figure 3: Research methodology flowchart.

Start

Problem Limitation

Material and Equipment Preparation

Test ob

ect assessment after 28 da

Concrete block and cube sample creation

Concrete Block Wall Brickwork

Wall compressive strength test after 7 days

Conclusion and Suggestion

Finish

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

170

Figure 4:HDPE and PP bricks and cubes sample.

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Visual Testing

4.1.1 Outward-looking Assessment

Table 2 : Visual testing result.

Description

Sample Condition

in General

Batako

HDPE

Batako

1. Fields

a. Flatness

Flat Flat

b. Crack

Crack

c. Smoothness

Smooth Smooth

2. Sides

a. Elbow

Elbow Elbow

b. Sharpness

Sharp Sharp

c. Strength

Strong Strong

Batako (concrete block) with utilization of

HDPE and PP plastic waste using SikaPaver HC-1

ID and Silicafume has fulfilled the outward-looking

requirements according to the provisions set forth in

SNI 03-0349-1989, ie the non-defective surface

area, the sides of the elbow against each other , and

the corner of the sides is not easily tidied with the

strength of the fingers (not brittle).

4.1.2 Size Assessment

After the examination of the size, the data of

dimension measurement of batako sample is

obtained. The data has been copied from the size

that has been adjusted to the provisions of SNI 03-

0349-1989.

Table 3: Comparison of mean deviation of batako

(concrete block) test objects to quality requirement.

Based on the size tolerance of SNI 03-0349-1989,

the data of the concrete block measurements

indicates that the resulted concrete blocks meet the

average size requirements. This is because in the

process of making bricks made manually was

compacted properly. Strong molds of bricks are also

one of the factors that cause the size of the brick in

accordance with the expectation.

4.2 Content Weight and Absorption

Testing

4.2.1 Content Weight Testing

Table 4: Average

weight comparison of average

batako test items.

*Based on the results of research that has been

conducted by Theresa (2017) and Kevin (2017).

From Table 4, the test specimen using PP plastic

waste substitution has higher content weight than the

test specimen using HDPE plastic waste substitution.

It proves that test specimens using PP plastic waste

contain better average density.

No.

Test

Object

Type

Average

Length

Average

Width

Average

Height

Test

Object

(mm)

SNI

03-

0349-

1989

Test

Object

(mm)

SNI

03-

0349-

1989

Test

Object

(mm)

SNI

03-

0349-

1989

Batako

10%

choppe

HDPE

400,06

5mm

Tolera-

nce

Limit

200,04

2mm

Tolera-

nce

Limit

100,04

2mm

Tolera-

nce

Limit

Batako

10%

choppe

d PP

400,07 200,05 100,03

No.

Batako

Type

Volume

)

Average

Weight

(Kg)

Content

Weight

(Kg/m

)

Normal

Batako*

0,008 16,399 2049,875

HDPE

Batako

0,008 14,293 1788,831

3 PP Batako 0,008 14,908 1862,913

The Utilization of Plastic Waste in the Matched Mixture of Concrete Brick

171

From the results of the conducted content weight

examination, both HDPE batako and PP batako have

smaller content weight compared with normal brick.

Therefore, it can be said that the use of substitute

types of HDPE and PP plastic can reduce the weight

of the concrete block. In addition, the influence of

addition of HC-1ID attitudes as admixture and

sikafume with silicafume type as additive adds the

content weight of HDPE batako as well as PP

batako.

4.2.2 Absorption Testing

Table 5: Batako Absorption Test

From table 5, it can be seen that the absorption

capacity of the concrete block and cube with the

utilization of HDPE and PP plastic waste using

SikaPaver HC-1 ID and Silicafume has fulfilled the

requirement with the tolerance limit of quality 1

batako that is listed on SNI 03-0349-1989, which is

lower than 25%. Greater water absorption occurs in

the type of batako with 10% of PP plastic

substitution. The specific gravity of PP plastic (0.90

- 0.91 gram / cm³) is smaller than the one of HDPE

(0.94 gram / cm³) which results in the specimens

with substitution of 10% PP plastic from the weight

of sand on the batako having a greater absorption

value.

4.3 Compressive Strength Test

The test specimens used were 40 x 20 x 10 cm

batako and 15 x 15 x 15 cm cubes which had 28

days treatment with two mixed variations ie,

samples using 10% of chopped HDPE plastic and

samples using 10% of chopped PP plastic from the

weight of the sand. The test object is given pressure

until the maximum load can be retained by the

concrete block and cube. Test results can be seen as

follows:

Table 6: Test specimen compressive strength test result

Specime

n Type

Sample

Dial

Reading

(KN)

Compr

ession

Area

(cm

)

Compressive

Strength

(Kg/cm

)

Quali

Speci-

men

SNI

03-

0349-

1989

Batako

+10%

Chopped

HDPE

Plastic

Waste

B1.1 206 280 75.04 65 II

B1.2 184 280 67.03 65 II

B1.3 190 280 69.03 65 II

B1.4 182 280 66.30 65 II

B1.5 188 280 68.49 65 II

Average

190 280 69.21 70 II

Batako

+10%

Chopped

Plastic

Waste

B2.1 236 280 85.97 65 II

B2.2 254 280 92.53 90 I

B2.3 230 280 83.79 65 II

B2.4 236 280 85.97 65 II

B2.5 228 280 83.06 65 II

Average

236.8 280 86.26 70 II

Cube

+10%

Chopped

HDPE

Plastic

Waste

K1.1 154 225 69.81 65 II

K1.2 176 225 79.79 65 II

K1.3 164 225 74.35 65 II

K1.4 182 225 82.51 65 II

K1.5 158 225 71.63 65 II

Average

166.8 225 75.62 70 II

Cube

+10%

Chopped

Plastic

Waste

K2.1 254 225 115.15 90 I

K2.2 226 225 102.45 90 I

K2.3 270 225 122.40 90 I

K2.4 264 225 119.68 90 I

K2.5 238 225 107.89 90 I

Average

250.4 225 113.51 100 I

Analysing from the test results data from the

compressive strength in Table 6, the compressive

strength of HDPE batako, PP batako, and HDPE

cubes are included in the classification of quality II

batako, while the PP cube is included in the

classification of the quality I batako. This is stated in

the requirements of SNI 03-0349-1989, where the

average compressive strength of the concrete block

with the quality of I is 100 kg / cm

and the average

compressive strength of quality 2 block is 70 kg /

. The compressive strength of batako with 15x

No.

Specimen

Type

Wet

Weight

(Kg)

Dry

Weight

(Kg)

Average

Absorption

(%)

Quality

Test

Object

SNI

03-

0349-

1989

Batako

+10%

Chopped

HDPE

Plastic

Waste

15.241 14.311 6.509 25 I

Batako

+10%

Chopped

PP Plastic

Waste

15.829 14.903 6.211 25 I

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

172

15x15 cm cube shape has a higher compressive

strength compared with the one with the size of 40 x

20 x 10 cm. This is because the smaller the

dimension of a specimen, the greater the load can be

accepted by the specimen (Talinusa, et al., 2014).

A plastic substitution concrete block with a

higher compressive strength is achieved by a 10%

PP block that achieves an average compressive

strength and 86.26 kg / cm

(form of brick) and

113.51 kg / cm

(cubic shape). Whereas the 10%

HDPE substitution batako achieved a lower average

compressive strength of 75.62 kg / cm

(form of

brick) and 69.21 kg / cm

(cubic shape).

5 CONCLUSIONS

1. Batako as the result of substitution of chopped

waste of HDPE and PP have visual appearance

that is in accordance with the requirement of SNI

03-0349-1989, that is surface area which is not

defective, elbow corner and side, and deviation

of measure does not exceed the tolerance limit of

quality requirement.

2. The average content weight of the concrete block

with the substitution of chopped HDPE plastic

waste is 1788.831 kg / m

. While the average

content weight of the batako by substitution of

chopped PP plastic waste is 1862.913 kg / m

The average content weight of the of the cube-

shaped brick with the substitution of HDPE

plastic waste count is 26284.44 kg / m

. While

the substitution of chopped PP plastic waste is

27680.00 kg / m

3. Analysing from the absorption capacity of the

batako (absorption) of the average specimens,

the HDPE batako and PP batako may be

classified as a quality I batako

4. The percentage of absorption (absorption)

occurring in HDPE cube block (15 x 15 x 15 cm)

is 15.68% and 6.509% happened to brick (40 x

20 x 10 cm). While percentage of absorption

(absorption) that happened in cube-shaped PP

batako is 14.32% whereas 6.211% happened in

batako (40 x 20 x 10 cm).

5. Batako with higher compressive strength is

achieved by a PP batako that reaches an average

compressive strength and 86.26 Kg / cm

(form

of brick) and 113.51 Kg / cm

(cubic shape).

Whereas in HDPE substitution batako reaches a

lower average of compressive strength of 75.62

Kg / cm

(form of brick) and 69.21 Kg / cm

(cubic shape).

6. Compressive strength of HDPE batako and

PP batako are included in the classification of

quality II batako based on SNI 03-0349-1989.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research is funded by the Directorate of

Research and Community Service of the Directorate

General of Strengthening Research and

Development, Ministry of Research, Technology

and Higher Education of Republic of Indonesia, in

accordance with research funding agreement and

community service for fiscal year 2018.

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