Mortar and concrete composites with recycled plastic: A review

Abstract

Valorization of waste plastic as concrete aggregates has become an opportunity. Some advantages are plastic waste recycling, consumption reduction of natural aggregates and improvement of concrete properties. This paper presents a review on addition of recycled plastic waste to cement composites and influence on their properties. Forty five international papers were selected from scientific peer-reviewed journals. The critical items analyzed were: plastic characteristics, mix proportion design and concrete properties. The last item includes fresh and hardened concrete properties, durability performance and thermal conductivity. Although some properties were negatively influenced by the plastics, this paper focuses on the variables that mitigate these effects. The improvement of insulation properties with plastic is widely analyzed, but further research is recommended. As conclusion, application of plastic waste would be useful on both, technical and environmental dimensions and this paper could be used as a helpful tool for studying and designing mortars and concrete composites with recycled plastic.