Feasibility of Utilization of Metalized Plastic Waste in Cohesionless Soil

摘要

This paper presents the test results of shear strength of cohesionless soil reinforced with macro-sized metallized plastic waste (MPW). The soil samples were collected from Rajkot city of Gujarat state, India. The objective was to obtain the effects of addition of MPW in cohesionless soil on shear strength variation of soil. MPW was received from a local plastic packaging unit as films and shredded into flakes of 5 mm × 5 mm average size. The flakes were mixed in soil by weight fractions from 0% to 3% with an increment of 0.5%. The direct shear test was performed on each specimen. Soil specimen containing 0% MPW was regarded as reference soil. The test results revealed that inclusion of MPW improved the shear strength of soil for MPW dosage up to 1.5% by weight. Beyond 1.5% of addition of MPW flakes reduced the shear strength. However, the experimental study demonstrated the feasibility for a sustainable utilization of MPW in cohesionless soil. Soil reinforced with MPW could be used for the civil engineering applications where shear strength enhancement is required.