Database Study on the Sustainability Assessment of Plastic Waste Utilization in Concrete: Towards the Development of Sustainable Waste Management Route

The non-biodegradable nature of most plastic waste has devastating impacts on ecosystems, the biophysical environment, and human health. The current waste management alternatives such as landfilling, incineration and recycling are often accompanied by adverse effects on the environment. Although concrete incorporating polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate has been investigated in the literature, the diverse use of these plastics along with the variances in the mix concrete constituents has brought along contradicting research results in the literature. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the life cycle performance of concrete incorporating polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate using the database approach. 635 data points sourced from research studies, utilized to construct the database in this study, enabled a comprehensive establishment of the optimum use of the polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate and pozzolans in concrete. Established concrete types were then used to perform the life cycle assessment of concrete incorporating polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate and pozzolanic materials. The results reported herein suggest that the utilisation of waste plastics, particularly when accompanied by pozzolans could substantially reduce the global warming potential and the other associated indices such as ozone and water depletion potentials. It is also eminently exhibited in the study that the incorporation of waste plastic in concrete, the proposed waste management approach, could substantially reduce the life cycle indices and hence enables not only greener construction materials to be produced but also vitally contributes to environmental preservation and sustainable development of the ecosystems by offering waste plastics a cleaner disposal method.