The vision of this study is geared towards the exploitation of waste plastic bottle use in construction. This review paper is centers on the recycling of waste plastic bottles as a construction material as an effort to help solve the housing deficit in most developing countries including Ghana and to save the depletion of natural resources construction materials. In Ghana, plastic wastes are discarded randomly after usage, hence scatter around in cities, choking drains, and end up threatening our ecosystem. These predominant effects from the plastic wastes have necessitated the need for countries precisely developing countries including Ghana to seek more sustainable methods to reduce the drastic amount of plastic wastes in the environment. In view of the above, this paper focused on the recycling of waste plastic bottles as a construction material as an effort to solve the housing deficit in most developing countries including Ghana and to save the depletion of natural resources construction materials (stones and sand) are very much critical. In the reviews, an effort has been made to utilize the waster plastic bottles in construction by filling the bottles with soil, sand, solid waste materials as brick or block bounded with mortar as a masonry wall or the filled bottles are used as a substitute for the production of the masonry unit production. In summary, it was concluded based on varying test result that: (1) Plastic waste bottles are cheaper to acquire than most conventional construction materials and as such concrete or brick containing any amount of plastic bottle is noted to reduce the total quantities of conventional materials required, thereby reducing the cost as well. (2) The use of plastic waste bottles in construction contributes to environmental friendliness and energy savings since buildings with walls constructed of plastic bottles maintains room temperatures and contribute to energy saving and the cost of providing an artificial thermal control system. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091616 Full Text: PDF

The implications of palm kernel shell (PKS)-filled plastic bottles on the structural behaviour of concrete slabs were carried out by comparing the flexural performance of conventional solid concrete slabs to concrete slabs incorporated with plastic bottles filled with palm kernel shells and placed vertically, horizontally, and diagonally at the neutral axis of the slab as per Bubble Deck Slab technology. One-way slab specimens of size 700 × 300 × 150 mm thick were produced and subjected to a four-point flexural load test. Findings from the study indicated that: (1) The PKS-filled bottle slabs deflected more than the conventional solid slab, hence making them more flexible than the conventional slabs and, as such, giving the occupants enough time to evacuate. (2) The flexural strengths of the PKS-filled bottle slabs exceeded those of conventional slabs by 18.3% and 10.9%, respectively, for five and ten percentages of the volume of slab concrete occupied. (3) The condition of the PKS, either dry or saturated, coupled with the bottle arrangement (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal), does not, however, cause any significant change to the performance of the PKS filled bottle slabs in terms of load carrying capacity, deflection, and strength. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-03-016 Full Text: PDF

The present study is aimed at investigating the cost assessment of incorporating waste plastic bottles in the manufacture of voided concrete slabs; assessing the depth ratio vis-à-vis the cost reduction of incorporating waste plastic bottles in the manufacture of voided concrete slabs; assessing the energy consumption and CO2 emission obtained by incorporating waste plastic bottles in the manufacture of voided concrete slabs; and evaluating the impact of the depth ratio on embodied energy consumption and CO2 emission. The study was conducted on five types of slab specimens made: (1) conventional solid slab specimens; (2) slab specimens incorporated with 5% air-filled plastic bottles; and (3) slab specimens incorporated with 10% air-filled plastic bottles. Slab specimens of size 1000×1000×150 mm thick incorporated with 0, 5, and 10% waste plastic bottles were considered for the analysis of sustainability with respect to cost, energy, and CO2 savings. As part of the findings, it was revealed that the incorporation of waste plastic bottles into concrete slabs results in a reduction in the cost and volume of concrete. Again, using recycled plastic bottles in the slabs saved money, but for each percentage of bottles used, additional materials (plastic bottles, chicken wire, etc.) and labour were needed, which added to the cost. It was also revealed that embodied energy and CO2 emissions decrease as the percentage of plastic bottles in the slab increases. The study has confirmed that the void slab made with plastic bottles is more sustainable than the traditional solid slab system when it comes to cost, energy use, and CO2emissions. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-11-09 Full Text: PDF

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