The Use of Plastic Bottles in Concrete Mixtures

Toxicity Misunderstanding

• Plastic itself is not toxic. Rather, it acts like a magnet and sponge in the presence of toxins, reports the article in “The Telegraph.” Plastic attracts and absorbs environmental poisons, becoming carriers of toxic substances. Bottles that have been recycled from households, restaurants and other chemically innocuous places have not been exposed to dangerous substances such as DDT, a pesticide that contaminates oceans, and are safe to use as components of concrete aggregates.

Plastic Advantage

• An article in “Structural Engineering Digest” reports that the incorporation of plastic derived from discarded bottles and other recyclable products into concrete makes the material capable of withstanding more tension and less prone to water infiltration. Plastic particles also extend the maximum point of flexibility of concrete before it breaks, and they create a product that provides better insulation than a standard cement mixture.

Plastic “Sand”

• Concrete is a rough building material made of a blend of water, cement, crushed stone and sand. Researchers have studied various forms of plastic to be used to replace the sand in a standard concrete aggregate. In 2007, the journal “Waste Management” published the results of a study that found that granulated plastic was a successful option for use in concrete composites. For the study, the research team, led by O.Y. Marzouk, used granules of recycled bottles made of a type of plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate.

Considerations

• Ankur Bhogayata and Dr. N.K. Arora, authors of the article in “Structural Engineering Digest,” note that the roughness of traditional concrete is an essential property that makes bonding possible. Because it is a smooth material, recycled plastic has to be artificially roughened to become viable as a concrete component. In addition, the authors report that the current technology to transform plastic into a concrete component is not energy efficient. Besides, bottles are made of different types of plastic, not all of which have been tested as sand replacement in a concrete formula. Readily available information on this subject also fails to address the fire safety of plastic-containing concrete. In their original state, plastic bottles are flammable.