Performance of Sustainable Reinforced Concrete Beams Containing Fine Plastic Waste Aggregate and Their Life-Cycle Costing

The consumption of various types of plastic is a difficult problem to protect the environment from since waste disposal is still used most frequently. This experimental study investigates the properties of concrete containing fine plastic aggregate manufactured from waste vegetable plastic boxes, the flexural behavior of a reinforced concrete beam with fine plastic waste aggregate, and its life-cycle cost. Five concrete mixtures are utilized, containing fine plastic waste aggregate in different ratios of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% of the fine aggregate weight. Beams with 1200 mm length and 150*200 mm cross-section containing fine plastic waste aggregate as a substitute for natural fine aggregate with a 30% ratio are tested. The result showed that using waste plastic box particles as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in the concrete mixture led to a decrease in the compressive strength of the mixes. The results of the beam with 30% replacement exhibited better flexural strength than the reference. The life-cycle cost of RC beams with fine plastic waste aggregate is almost as similar as that of beams using natural aggregates. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.