ECO-BRICKS: PLASTIC WASTE TO

PLASTIC BRICKS

Rhan-Rhan N. De Guzman

David Paul D. Castillo

Authors

Ms. Lara Tereza Arcillas

Adviser
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title

Aims and Objectives

Introduction to the Research Topic

Literature Review

Research Design

Ethical Considerations

Conclusions and Recommendation

Bibliography
 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The study helps the province of Aurora to lessen the plastic wastes by turning it to a plastic

brick. This study also aims the following:

1. To reduce the plastic wastes in Aurora.

2. To produce plastic brick.

3. To reduce dumping and burning of plastics that can cause harmful effect in ozone layer.
 Introduction

Plastic pollution, accumulation in the environment of synthetic plastic products to the point

where they create problems for wildlife and their habitats as well as for human populations. Plastic

is the biggest culprit when it comes to waste production. The worrying factor is that it can take

hundreds of years to decomposed, making it a huge problem in the future. In the rainy season there

is so much plastic on the beaches of Aurora and in the water because all of the trash washes down

the rivers and into the ocean. Some people in Aurora don’t believe that it’s possible to make plastic

wastes into construction material so we’re going to make plastic bricks so that people can see that

it works.

The main problem is increasing number of plastic wastes in Aurora especially during summer and

rainy season. This research is made in order to help reduce the number of plastic wastes as it be

made into plastic bricks. The benefit of this study is to help people get rid of those plastic wastes.

This will lessen the number of plastic wastes that cause pollution. With this study, plastic wastes

can be reduced and can turn into plastic bricks that can help build house extension, piggery

housing, chicken coop, etc. it has a superb heat insulating properties five times more than standard

bricks. To reduce plastic wastes by producing cheap and safe construction materials such as plastic

bricks. Each brick helps rid the province of Aurora of discarded plastic and is cheaper and more

fuel efficient to manufacture than conventional bricks. It's also less energy intensive than recycling

the plastic into other forms.

 Literature Review

Likely articles:

Literature Review on Different Plastic Waste Materials Use in Concrete

Plastic waste is silent threat to the environment and their disposal is a serious issue for waste

managers. Now a day society does not have any alternative to plastic products like plastic bags,

plastic bottles, and plastic sheets etc. In spite of all efforts made to limit its use but unfortunately

its utility is increasing day by day. To circumvent this issue many efforts were made in the past to

reuse the plastic waste but no significant results were achieved. On contrary concrete being the

widely used construction material is facing problem due to unavailability of construction material

(Cement, sand and coarse aggregate). Various attempts were made through experimentation to

check the feasibility of plastic waste to be use partially in concrete with respect to various

properties of strength, workability, durability and ductility of concrete. This paper includes review

of various studies conducted on utility of waste plastic material used in the concrete. Moreover,

this paper will draw our focus toward the impingement on the various properties of concrete when

partially replacing with waste plastic.

Recycling of PET plastic waste - literature review

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the

manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and

may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs. Monomers

of plastic are either natural or synthetic organic compounds. The word plastic is derived from the

Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning capable of being shaped or molded, from πλαστός (plastos)

meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them
to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles,

boxes, and much more. Plastic materials trace their origin in The United States back to 1868, when

a young printer named John Wesley Hyatt came up with Celluloid, the first American plastic. He

mixed pyroxylin, made from cotton (one of nature's polymerics), and nitric acid, with camphor to

create an entirely different and new product. Celluloid quickly moved into many markets,

including the first photographic film used by George Eastmanto produce the first motion picture

film in 1882. The material is still in use today under its chemical name, cellulose nitrate. In 1909,

Dr. Lee Hendrik Baekeland introduced phenoformaldehyde plastics (or"phenolics", as they are

more popularly known), the first plastic to achieve worldwide acceptance. More importantly,

Baekeland also evolved techniques for controlling and modifying the phenoformaldehyde reaction

so that products could be formed under heat and pressure from the material. This characteristic of

liquefying the material so that it can be formed into various shapes under heat and pressure is still

common to most plastics. The third major thrust in the development of plastics took place in the

1920s with the introduction of cellulose acetate (which is similar in structure to cellulose nitrate,

but safer to process and use), urea formaldehyde (which can be processed like the phenolics, but

can also be molded into light colored articles that are more attractive than the blacks and browns

in which phenolics are available), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or vinyl, as itis commonly called).

Nylon was also developed in the late 1920s through the classic research of W.T. Carothers.

BRICKS FROM WASTE PLASTIC

This project reviews one of the sustainable and effective ways of managing plastic waste in urban

and rural parts of India in order to minimize their adverse environmental impacts. The requirement

for such a research is validated as it is desirable to change the unsustainable arrangement of

consumption, production and disposal associated with these materials. After studying the whole
scenario, I developed an effective way of utilizing the soft plastic waste and recycling it into plastic

bricks which are very light in weight and can withstand high amount of pressure as compared to

standard modular bricks. However due to some physical and chemical properties of plastic which

can be disadvantageous to the brick created from it, some changes in its design and manufacturing

processes can be made.

 Research Design

A. Materials

1. Any type of plastic wastes

2. Used plastic bottles

3. Cement
 4. Sand

B. Methods

1. Clean the collected plastic wastes and bottles

Prepare the collected plastic wastes and bottles and put it to a large container fill

with water. Manually wash the plastic wastes and bottles to remove dirt and dry it

afterwards.

2. Shredder

Put the clean plastic wastes into shredder. It is used to reduce plastic wastes and

bottles to smaller pieces.

3. Water Boiler and Compactor

The heated water and compression used to fuse plastic into bricks. The dimension

of a brick is 220mm x 110mm

4. Filling steel rebar into bricks

After the brick is formed, fill it with 3 steel rebar vertically. The size of rebar is

9mm.

5. Coat it with cement sand mixture

Last, After the brick is filled with rebar, coat it with cement sand mixture to finish

it.
 Ethical Considerations

First of all, we do no harm to any animals and humans nor violate any rules or laws during

and after the research has done. We are fully informed about the study being conducted. We are

aware about the purposes and process of the study. We just want to lessen the plastic wastes here

in Aurora by turning it to a plastic brick.

 Conclusion and Recommendations

The benefit of this study is to help people get rid of those plastic wastes. This will lessen

the number of plastic wastes that cause pollution. With this study, plastic wastes can be reduced

and can turn into plastic bricks that can help build house extension, piggery housing, chicken coop,

etc. it has a superb heat insulating properties five times more than standard bricks.

For some recommendations, one of the drawbacks of these type of bricks is that they can't

be used like standard bricks because the plastic compresses under heavy structural loads. It is

widely open for improvements that can help to a more successful production. However, their

saving grace is that because of their awesome sound and thermal insulating properties, they make

superb wall fillers.

 Bibliography

https://www.britannica.com/science/plastic-pollution

https://observers.france24.com/en/20170608-plastic-bottles-become-building-bricks-philippines-

hostel-stuffitchallenge

https://www.expertskiphire.co.uk/plastic-bricks

http://primer.com.ph/business/2018/08/04/ecobricks-transforms-plastic-waste-to-building-

blocks/

https://wasteaid.org/toolkit/how-to-turn-mixed-plastic-waste-and-bottles-into-ecobricks/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/literature-review-different-plastic-waste-materials-use-rafique

https://www.scribd.com/doc/97968101/Recycling-of-PET-plastic-waste-literature-review

https://www.journalijar.com/article/14502/bricks-from-waste-plastic./