Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Recycling/reuse of plastic waste as construction material for sustainable development: a review

Researchers reviewed how waste plastic can be incorporated into construction materials — as binders, aggregates, or cement substitutes in bricks, tiles, concrete, and roads — finding that plastic-modified materials often show competitive strength properties while simultaneously diverting plastic waste from landfills.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 264 citations
Article Tier 2

Valorization of Plastic Waste through Incorporation into Construction Materials

This review of 60 studies examines how plastic waste is being incorporated into construction materials — including concrete, asphalt, and bricks — as a sustainable valorization strategy, finding that recycled plastics can improve certain material properties while diverting waste from landfills.

2022 Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Recycling of Plastic Waste in the Construction Industry

This review examines the use of recycled plastic waste in construction applications including concrete, asphalt, insulation, and structural composites, assessing the performance, durability, and environmental benefits of incorporating waste plastics into building materials to reduce landfill disposal.

2025 Polymers 4 citations
Review Tier 2

Waste Plastic in Road Construction, Pathway to a Sustainable Circular Economy: A Review

This review examines existing literature on incorporating waste plastic into road construction, finding that its inclusion can improve pavement performance and durability while offering a pathway to divert non-biodegradable plastic from landfills.

2023 E3S Web of Conferences 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Utilization of Plastic Waste in Road Paver Blocks as a Construction Material

Researchers evaluated the use of recycled plastic waste in road paver blocks in India, finding that incorporating recycled plastic improved block strength and weather resistance compared to conventional materials, offering a construction application for plastic waste.

2023 CivilEng 18 citations
Article Tier 2

A critical review of the current progress of plastic waste recycling technology in structural materials

Researchers reviewed technologies for recycling plastic waste into construction materials such as concrete and asphalt, finding this approach can meaningfully reduce the environmental burden of plastic pollution. Incorporating plastic waste into building materials offers a practical path toward both waste reduction and more sustainable construction.

2023 Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 210 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Systematic Review of Plastic Waste as Eco-Friendly Aggregate for Sustainable Construction

This systematic review examines how recycled plastic waste can be used as a substitute for traditional aggregates in concrete and construction materials. Using plastic waste in construction could divert it from landfills and waterways where it breaks down into microplastics. The review evaluates the structural performance and environmental benefits of incorporating plastic into building materials.

2022 International Journal of Sustainable Construction Engineering Technology 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Use of Waste Plastic as a Replacement for Bitumen in Road Construction

This review examines methods for incorporating waste plastic into road construction as an alternative to virgin bitumen and aggregates. Techniques like plastic-coated aggregates and plastic-modified bitumen improved road durability and weather resistance while diverting plastic from landfills. The approach offers a dual benefit of reducing plastic waste accumulation and decreasing the environmental impact of road construction.

2025 OCEM Journal of Management Technology & Social Sciences 1 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Life Cycle Assessment of Road Pavements That Incorporate Waste Reuse: A Systematic Review and Guidelines Proposal

This systematic review examines life cycle assessments of roads built with recycled waste materials, including plastic. The research evaluates whether incorporating waste into road construction is truly more environmentally sustainable across the full life cycle. Using plastic waste in road building is one approach to keeping it out of the environment, though concerns remain about microplastic release from road surfaces over time.

2023 Sustainability 19 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Marine Plastic Waste in Construction: A Systematic Review of Applications in the Built Environment

This systematic review evaluates how recycled marine plastic waste can be used in construction materials like concrete, asphalt, bricks, and insulation. Reusing ocean plastics in buildings could help reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the environment. While performance varies, this approach offers a promising way to address marine plastic waste while creating useful building materials.

2025 Polymers 4 citations
Review Tier 2

Potential Applications of Different Forms of Recycled Plastics as Construction Materials—A Review

This review examined potential applications of different forms of recycled plastics (granules, powder, fiber, aggregate) as construction materials, identifying suitable recycling methodologies and construction products with performance benefits such as improved toughness and reduced weight.

2023 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of Plastic-Infused Concrete Bricks and Their Suitability for Interlocking: Mechanical, Durability, and Environmental Perspectives

Researchers tested plastic-infused concrete bricks as a way to repurpose plastic waste in construction materials, evaluating their mechanical strength and suitability for different building applications. The study explores whether incorporating plastic waste into durable materials can reduce the plastic entering the environment as microplastics.

2025 European Journal of Innovative Studies and Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Incorporating Waste Plastics into Pavement Materials: A Review of Opportunities, Risks, Environmental Implications, and Monitoring Strategies

This review examines the opportunities and risks of incorporating waste plastics into pavement construction materials, critically assessing performance benefits, environmental implications including microplastic release, and future directions for sustainable integration of plastic waste in road infrastructure.

2025 Applied Sciences
Article Tier 2

An Analysis of the State-of-the-art in Plastic Scrap Recycling Strategies for Construction Components

This review examines strategies for recycling plastic waste in construction applications, covering methods to convert plastic scraps into building components and discussing barriers including contamination, mixed polymer streams, and regulatory restrictions on plastic use in structural applications.

2025
Review Tier 2

Waste Plastic and Rubber in Concrete and Cement Mortar: A Tertiary Literature Review

This review synthesized tertiary literature on using waste plastic and rubber in concrete and cement mortar, finding that while these recycled materials offer environmental benefits, they generally reduce mechanical strength and require careful optimization.

2023 Sustainability 8 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Recycled Plastics in Asphalt Mixtures: A Systematic Review of Mechanical Performance, Environmental Impact and Practical Implementation

This systematic review evaluates using recycled plastics in road asphalt as a way to reduce plastic waste. The research found that incorporating recycled plastic can actually improve road durability while diverting waste from landfills. This approach matters for microplastic reduction because it locks plastic into road surfaces rather than allowing it to break down freely in the environment.

2025 Applied Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Using Plastic Wastes in Construction: Opportunities and Challenges

This review examines the opportunities and challenges of incorporating plastic waste into construction materials, motivated by rapid urbanization and a pandemic-driven surge in plastic waste generation. The study evaluates technical performance, sustainability trade-offs, and regulatory considerations for using recycled plastics as building materials.

2022 EPiC series in built environment 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Integrating Plastic Waste into Concrete: Sustainable Solutions for the Environment

This review examines research on incorporating plastic waste into concrete as a partial replacement for conventional aggregates and cement. Researchers found that adding recycled plastic can reduce concrete density and improve thermal insulation properties, though it generally decreases compressive strength at higher replacement ratios. The study suggests that optimizing plastic content and treatment methods could make this approach a viable strategy for diverting plastic waste from landfills.

2024 Materials 15 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comprehensive Review on the Use of Polyethylene Waste in Hot Mix Asphalt: Material Properties, Performance Enhancement, and Sustainability Perspectives

This review examines the use of low-density and high-density polyethylene waste as modifiers in hot mix asphalt, finding that PE incorporation can improve binder performance and pavement durability while diverting plastic waste from landfills. The authors assess material properties, environmental benefits, and economic considerations, positioning plastic-modified asphalt as a viable circular economy approach in road construction.

2025 Journal of Engineering
Article Tier 2

A Survey on Use of Non-Recyclable Waste in Construction

This survey reviews strategies for incorporating non-recyclable plastic waste into construction materials, documenting the environmental threat posed by plastic waste in marine ecosystems and its effects on wildlife and human health. The authors conclude that using plastic waste as a component in cementitious composites offers the most promising avenue for improving environmental sustainability while providing a practical construction material.

2022 International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology
Article Tier 2

A Step towards Sustainable Concrete with Substitution of Plastic Waste in Concrete: Overview on Mechanical, Durability and Microstructure Analysis

This review evaluates the use of plastic waste as a substitute material in concrete, analyzing its effects on mechanical strength, durability, and microstructure to assess its viability as a sustainable construction approach.

2022 Crystals 174 citations
Article Tier 2

Utilization of Plastic Waste in Concrete Pavement

Researchers investigated the use of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic waste as an aggregate in concrete pavement mix designs, finding that incorporation of HDPE improved mechanical performance and durability while reducing landfill waste and energy consumption in the concrete sector.

2025 Processes
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in the construction of sustainable asphalt roads with recycled plastic

This review examines the growing use of recycled plastics in road asphalt, tracing the practice back to the 1980s and identifying key challenges around performance, durability, and the risk of microplastic release from plastic-modified road surfaces. The authors conclude that while promising for waste reduction, more research is needed on long-term environmental impacts.

2022 Polymer International 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic-Waste-Modified Asphalt for Sustainable Road Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Review

This review provides a comprehensive analysis of using waste plastics to modify asphalt for road construction, covering six major plastic types and both wet and dry processing methods. The study evaluated 42 peer-reviewed studies and found that integrating waste plastics into asphalt can enhance pavement performance while promoting circular economy principles, though environmental considerations such as microplastic release need further assessment.

2025 Sustainability 6 citations