IJSTE - International Journal of Science Technology & Engineering | Volume 2 | Issue 10 | April 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-784X

Use of Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road

Construction
R. K. Yadav

Pratiksha Singh Rajput

M.E. Student
Department of Civil Engineering
Jabalpur Engineering College Jabalpur, India

Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Jabalpur Engineering College Jabalpur, India

Abstract
Disposal of waste materials including waste plastic bags has become a serious problem and waste plastics are burnt for apparent
disposal which cause environmental pollution. Utilization of waste plastic in bituminous mixes has proved that the properties of
mix are improved and disposal problems are also solved to some extent. The cleaned Plastic waste is cut into a size such that it
passes through 2.36 mm sieve using shredding machine. The aggregate mix is heated and the plastic is effectively coated over the
aggregates. This plastic waste coated aggregates are mixed with hot bitumen to prepare job mix formula. The use of the innovative
technology will not only strengthen the road construction but also increase the road life as well as will help to reduce the
environment pollution. The present study investigates the use of waste plastic as a modifier for semi dense bituminous concrete.
In this study the shredded plastic waste is mixed in hot aggregate and the plastic modified mix is prepared using 6%,8%,10%,12%,
and 14%plastic by weight of bitumen .it has been found that the Marshall stability value is maximum when 12% plastic waste is
added to the mix. The other Marshall parameters are also improved with the addition of plastic waste into the bituminous mix.
Keywords: Plastic Waste, Bitumen, Aggregates
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I.

INTRODUCTION

Any nation's progress is directly dependent on infrastructure. India is on the threshold of a major forward thrust in the field of
transportation infrastructure. Over the past two decades, traffic volumes have increased, demanding from pavement engineers,
stronger and long lasting pavements. New methods of pavement design are being developed to improve the performance of roads.
New materials are being used to replace the old ones to improve the durability, strength, aesthetics and economy. One of the
promising ways is to use plastics in bituminous road construction industry. Today, the availability of the waste plastics is enormous,
as the plastic materials have become part and parcel of daily life. If not recycled, their present disposal is either by land filling or
by incineration. Both these processes have certain impact on the environment. Under this circumstance, an alternate use for the
waste plastics is the need of the hour. In this study to the Marshall properties of bituminous mixes have been found when plastic
wastes are incorporated into them. Plastic in different forms is found to be almost 5% in municipal solid waste, which is toxic in
nature. It is a common sight in both urban and rural areas to find empty plastic bags and other type of plastic packing material
littering the roads as well as drains. Due to its biodegradability it creates stagnation of water and associated hygiene problems. In
order to overcome this problem research has been carried out whether this waste plastic can be reused productively. The
experimentation at several institutes indicated that the waste plastic, when added to hot aggregate will form a fine coat of plastic
over the aggregate and such aggregate, when mixed with the binder is found to give higher strength, higher resistance to water and
better performance over a period of time. Use of higher percentage of plastic waste reduces the need of bitumen by 10%. It also
increases the strength and performance of the road. Plastic roads would be a boon for Indias hot and extremely humid climate,
where temperatures frequently cross 50C and torrential rains create havoc, leaving most of the roads with big potholes.
This paper envisages the use of waste plastic in different proportion (6% to 14% by weight of bitumen) to prepare job mix
formulae for S.D.B.C. The variation Marshall properties of for the mixes containing different amount of plastic waste are studied.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The Use of plastic waste in flexible pavements would open up a solution for the disposal issues regarding plastic wastes. Many
research works have been done in the area of use of plastic waste in bituminous road construction.
Dr. R. Vasudevan (2007) investigated that the coating of plastics reduces the porosity, absorption of moisture and improves
soundness. The polymer coated aggregate bitumen mix forms better material for flexible pavement construction as the mix shows
higher Marshall Stability value and suitable Marshall Coefficient. Hence the use of waste plastics for flexible pavement is one of
the best methods for easy disposal of waste plastics. Use of plastic bags in road help in many ways like Easy disposal of waste,
better road and prevention of pollution.
Dr. R.Vasudevan and S. Rajasekaran, (2007) stated that the polymer bitumen blend is a better binder compared to plain
bitumen.Blend has increased Softening point and decreased Penetration value with a suitable ductility.

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Use of Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road Construction

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Swami et al. (2012) investigated the Use of waste plastic in the construction of bituminous Road. They concluded that plastic
waste consisting of carry bags, cups and other utilized plastic could be used as a coating over aggregates and this coated stone
could be used for Road construction.
Sultana et al. (2012) investigated the utilization of waste plastic as a strength modifier in surface course of flexible and rigid
pavements. They concluded that the potential use of waste plastic as a modifier for asphalt concrete and cement concrete pavement.
Gawande et al. (2012) investigated the An overview on waste plastic utilization in asphalting of roads. They reviewed
techniques to use plastic waste for construction purpose of roads and flexible pavements.
Raji et al.(2007) investigated the Utilization of marginal materials as an ingredient in bituminous mixes. They concluded that
when plastic wastes can be used as additives on bituminous pavements. Hence in their study, the properties of bituminous mix
when modified with shredded syringe plastic waste were investigated. The work was carried out by mixing shredded autoclaved
plastic syringes with heated aggregates by dry process.
Bhageerathy et al.(2014) investigated the use of Biomedical Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road Construction. They concluded
that the Marshall stability value of plastic modified mix was found to be 51 percent more than that for the normal mix which
indicates an increase in load carrying capacity
III. MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY
In this study VG30 viscosity grade Bitumen is used. Coarse aggregates of 9.5mm and 6mm size, hard, angular, BT metal and fine
aggregates (dust) is used in different proportion to satisfy MORTH specification as shown in table (1) .the apparent specific
gravities are found as under .
9.5mm aggregate- 2.81
6 mm aggregate
2.82
Fine aggregate (Dust) 2.80
To study the effect of mixing plastic waste in bituminous mixes. the following methodology was adopted
The plastic waste like carry bags, Polythenes etc. was collected and shredded to size passing through 2.36 mm sieve and
Retained on 600 micron sieve. The shredded plastic waste was mixed in the hot aggregates. Normal mix specimens were prepared
with bitumen contents of 4.5 percent, 5 percent, 5.5 percent and 6 percent. The Optimum Bitumen Content (OBC) was found out
using Marshall test. Plastic modified mix specimens with plastic contents of 6%,8%,10%,12%,and 14% by weight of bitumen were
prepared through dry process by adding plastic to heated aggregates. Marshall test were conducted on plastic modified mix
specimens to study different parameters.
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The Marshall specimen were prepared without adding plastic waste and adding plastic waste 6%to 14% by weight of bitumen in
the mix .The Marshall parameters obtained are summarized in table 2.the variation of stability ,flow value ,buik density ,air voids
and voids fill bitumen (VFB%) and optimum binder content is shown in fig 1 to 6.
IS Seive Size (mm)

9.5 mm
4.75 mm
2.36 mm
1.18 mm
300 u
75 u
Pan

Table 1
Grading of aggregate (SDBC)
% passing by weight
Combined grading
A :B :C :D
9.5 mm 6 mm Dust Filler
40 : 30 : 28 : 2
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
82
100
100
100
92.8
6.5
36
100
100
43.4
0
5
98
100
30.9
0
0
59
100
26.7
0
0
46
100
13.8
0
0
10
2%
3
110

Gradation of the mix 9.5 mm 6.0 mm

40%
30%

Specified Limit as Per MORTH

90-100
35-51
24-39
15-30
9-19
3-8

Dust Filler
28% 2%

Table 2
Marshall Parameters for SDBC using plastic waste in different proportions
Unit
Air
Bitumen
Stability Flow
Optimum binder content (OBC)
weight voids
mix
(kg)
(mm)
(g/cc)
(%)
BP0
5.5
9.6
2.62
2.34
4.2
BP6
5.7
11.9
2.7
2.35
4.0
BP8
5.67
12.0
2.98
2.36
4.0
BP10
5.6
12.9
3.4
2.37
3.9
BP12
5.4
13.0
3.6
2.38
3.3
BP 14
5.2
12.8
4.0
2.35
3.2

VFB
(%)
71.9
72.0
74.5
74.8
75.0
75.9

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Use of Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road Construction

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BP0BP6BP8BP10BP12BP14-

Bitumen with o % Plastic waste

Bitumen with 6 % Plastic waste
Bitumen with 8 % Plastic waste
Bitumen with10 % Plastic waste
Bitumen with 12 % Plastic waste
Bitumen with 14 % Plastic waste

Fig. 1: Variation of stability with bitumen content (Plastic modified)

Fig. 2: Variation of Unit Weight with Bitumen Content (Plastic modified)

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Use of Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road Construction

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 10 / 092)

Fig. 3: Variation of Air Voids with Bitumen Content (Plastic modified)

Fig. 4: Variation of Flow with Bitumen Content (Plastic modified)

Fig. 5: Variation of VFB with Bitumen Content (Plastic modified)

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Use of Plastic Waste in Bituminous Road Construction

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 10 / 092)

Fig. 6: Variation of optimum binder content with bitumen content (Plastic modified)

V. CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results obtained from laboratory test on S.D.B.C. containing different proportion of waste plastic the following
conclusions are drawn :1) By increasing the percentage of waste plastic into the mix the Marshall stability value are increased and maximum stability is
found for the mix containing 12% plastic by weight of the bitumen. At 14% plastic content the stability value has decreased.
Therefore the optimum plastic content is found as 12%.
2) The flow value goes continuous increasing with the addition of plastic content in the mix.
3) The % air voids in the mix decreases continuously and VFB continuously increases with the addition of the plastic waste in
the mix.
From the above test results it can be concluded that addition of plastic waste to the semi dense bituminous concrete mix
significantly improves the performance in the mix .The strength and voids parameter also satisfied the requirement of MORTH
specification. The optimum plastic content was obtained as 12% by weight of the bitumen content.
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