Characterization of concrete composites with recycled plastic aggregates from postconsumer material streams

Plastic waste is today an crucial environmental issue for which innovative recycling techniques are needed. This research aims at investigating the feasibility of replacing fine aggregate in concrete by recycled plastics from real post-consumer streams. Different kind of plastics were sorted in Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) to realize different Plastic Aggregates (PAG) at different seasonal time. The concrete composites were characterized in terms of compressive strength, post-cracking compressive strength, toughness indeces, thermal conductivity, density, and water absorptivity. Correlation tables were used to understand the key material parameter of PAG governing concrete properties. The effects of the replacement percentage, the PAG kind, the level of impurity, and the time-related variations on the quality of the concrete are discussed. The presented results indicate that concrete composite with PAG from postconsumer waste is a promising research direction for developing eco-responsible construction materials with enhanced thermal insulation and water absorptivity.