Pressing Strength of Plastic Bottle Couch as a Form of Waste Management Innovation in UMKM Sobotik

Abstract

In general, people burn plastic waste openly because they do not know the impact it can cause. Couch from plastic bottles one of the effective alternative innovations. The objective of this study was to determine the strength of the plastic bottle couch from the UMKM Sobotik couch product as the effort to develop creativity in utilizing plastic waste. Plastic bottles that have been glued according to the size and shape designed are given a load (load cell) at the center point of the test object. The shortening of the specimen during compression was observed by two linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) which were placed on the top of the flat surface on different sides of the specimen. The difference in the compressive strength of the plastic bottle couch specimen was based on the variable height of the plastic bottles making up the couch, the cross-sectional shape of the couch, and the position of the fastener (duct tape). There are three types of plastic bottles that make up the couch for this test, namely 1500 ml, 600 ml and 330 ml with the height of each bottle being 290 mm, 226 mm and 170 mm respectively. The results of the compressive load test on the plastic bottles that make up the couch ranged from 241 kgf-621 kgf. The strength of the couch is influenced by the number of adhesives, the location of the adhesive and the shape of the couch. The specimen with the smallest rigidity is a rectangular cross section. Round cross sections tend to have advantages over other cross sections. Due to the pressure received by the test object can be spread evenly throughout the radius of the test object. For a square cross section, there is a cross section that is shorter than the other parts, resulting in non-uniformity of the load received by the parts of the cross section, so that the round shape has great strength.